[lit-ideas] Re: Elementary, Dr. Watson
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:22:33 +0000 (GMT)
--- On Fri, 17/4/09, Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Elementary, Dr. Watson
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Friday, 17 April, 2009, 8:48 PM
> Donal writes
>
> 'It does not, for W, affect this theory that we can never
> provide examples of, or "know" examples of, these "atomic
> facts" or "elements".'
Perhaps I should I said "whether or not we can never". I was not claiming he
said we can never provide examples or know - simply that whether we can or not
does not, for W, affect the unassailable truth of his theory which is, after
all, a theory in philosophical logic rather than epistemology.
> He had no such theory. He does not himself describe the
> logically simple objects of the Tractatus, or give an
> example of any. This is not because he thought that one
> could not do it, but because he seems to have believed that
> having shown the necesity of their existence, he'd done the
> important work.
However, the fact that no examples were given did perhaps later become
important to W.
> He nowhere says that we can never (that it would be
> logically impossible to?) describe or give examples of the
> objects.
I never said he did. But I suspect he didn't really think this through properly
and once thought through it becomes apparent that such examples cannot be given.
Donal
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