[lit-ideas] Re: Simone Weil (Was: Kataphatic, Negative and Apophatic Theo...

  • From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 07 Aug 2004 14:50:48 -0400

>M.C. I don't *know* what gravity it is; in fact I don't even *know*
>what it is not. However, I *thought* I understood that the Newtonian=20
>conception of gravity Paul explains so ably above is widely believed to
>be false, presupposing as it does the existence of a force that can be
>transmitted instantaneously (which is, again, widely believed to be
>impossible).

As I said, I don't know what it is either, but I DO know, as does anyone 
else who has stepped off what they thought to be the last stair, what it 
does. And, as I also said, the Newtonian calculations are close enough to 
'work' until we step off the planet -- Coyote/roadrunner battles 
notwithstanding.

>I also thought that Einstein had shown in his general=20
>theory of relativity that the effects Newton thought he could explain=20
>by means of gravitational  "forces" exerted on one object by another=20
>are in fact due to the curvature of spacetime brought about by mass.

Shown -- yes. Proved? I don't know.

>  also thought - and continue to think - that if Weil compares =
>gravity and grace, and if I don't *know* what either of these are, then I have
>no business claiming her comparison is silly, wrong, or meaningless.

You didn't and you shouldn't, but I'm a reformed pomo mofo and I think, 
even though we know nothing, we can still judge. It's our right ain't it? 
There are guys who get PAID for doing that every day in universities all 
over the world. One of them actually initiated discussion about the Weil 
book in a class that Erin attended.

shattering illusions of security,
p

##########
Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Kingsville, ON, Canada 

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