[lit-ideas] Qua and Als Ob

 








Geary and Paul are discussing philosophy.


 


A: Why is a cup called a cup


B: Because it is a cup (Q. E. D.)


 


Paul calls B's assertion "irrefutable" with the implication that it is also 
"univerifiable", perhaps.


 


Geary is interested in the _qua_. I mentioned that but Walter O. ignored 
it, and gave us a lesson of things a philosopher does which are _not_ 
philosophical (e.g. go to the bathroom). I disagree. The hylemorphism is a 
unity, and _whatever a philosopher_ does is, 'philosophical'. In this 
philosophers are different from dentists.


 


Anyway, qua is perhaps the most important philosophical term. It's _not_ 
strictly philosophical. My maid uses it! But 'perseity' only _she_ uses:


 


the perseity [< post-classical Latin perseitas self-subsistence (c1300 
in Duns Scotus) < classical Latin per s by itself (see PER SE adv.), 
corresponding to ancient Greek ' , as used by Aristotle, Analytica posteriora 
73a26 + -ts (see -TY suffix1; cf. -ITY suffix). Cf. French perséité (1736).] 
The 
quality of being predicated essentially of a subject; an instance of this. 
Also: 
the quality or fact of existing independently. 


 


1588 A. FRAUNCE Lawiers Logike sig. ¶3v, And yet, notwithstanding all their 
Perseities,..hee that would not gather gould out of Aquinas dregges,..I shall 
thinke him as wise. 1694 R. BURTHOGGE Ess. Reason ix. 269 Subsistence is a mode 
of Existence, to which it adds Perseity. 1876 Contemp. Rev. 28 1006 One 
novelty..in philosophythe exclusion of the per-se-ity and must-be-ity, which 
cut 
such a figure in what goes for metaphysics. 1912 Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & 
Sci. Methods 9 529 But radical empiricism can yield no metaphysical principle 
like the God of scholasticism, of such attributes as unity, aseity, perseity, 
infinity, necessity, immutability, etc. 1962 L. VON MISES Ultimate Found. Econ. 
Sci. v. 79 In denying perseity, i.e., independent existence of their own, to 
the 
collectives, one does not in the least deny the reality of the effects brought 
about by the cooperation of individuals. 2002 Theol. Stud. 28 854 Neither the 
rational nature by itself, nor the perseity (being a per se existent) of 
subsistence, can constitute the ultimate specific difference for 
personhood.



The Germans regarded that Graeco-Roman compounds were good, but German ones 
were better. "Als ob" is a fascinating one that corresponds to Geary's qua si 
quid, reading the conditional 'si', as Geary does, as 'as' -- als ob, 'as if'. 
E.g. While a chair can have the perseity of a chair, it can be used as a table 
(als ob -- i.e. as it were a table). Ditto a philosopher can be treated as if 
he 
were an idiot, and that is the reading one sometimes gets from McCreery. On the 
other hand a publicist can be treated as 'someone living in Japan'. 



JL







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