OK, I give up. Could you clarify for us the semantics and prgmatics of your posting-act below? Always revelling in reading himself, Walter O. Chair, Garden Department of Leisure and Recreation University of Nikkie Beach San Tropez, FR Quoting Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > WO: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx> > To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Donal McEvoy" <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 3:59 PM > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Misreading > > > > Dawkins regrets the metaphor, asks for forgiveness and and promises never > > to use > > it again. He may be willing to make a donation to your favorite charity, > > if > > requested. > > > > On attributing intentional states: We typically do this in the case of > > dogs, > > cats, maybe even ants. But nobody believes that animals, insects or > > Republicans > > actually possess intentional states. If entities such as humans (i.e., > > genuinely > > intentional beings) didn't exist, there would be no such phenomena as > > "Rover > > knows it's time to go for a ride in the car because you're jiggling his > > leash > > in front of him." Or: "Mickey believes there is a mouse inside that hole." > > > Only > > beings who can make inferences, give reasons, can be said to hold beliefs > > and > > other intentional states. > > > > Come to think of it, it may well be that no human agent can possess > > intentional > > states independent of a linguistic community that attributes such states > > to > > her. > > > > Question: What/who is an intentional state? > > Answer: Look at who is attributed to possess such states by others having > > such > > states. (After all, Dasein does not exist independent of its understanding > > > of > > the being of Dasein.) > > > > On vacation, with Robert Brandom on my mind, > > > > Walter O > > > > P.S. Anybody know of a good text that examines the accuracy of Hannah > > Arendt's > > critique of Marx's notion of labour and freedom? (It may not be much of a > > vacation, but at least my labours are my work. Vocation, vacation, > > tomayto, > > tomatoe.) > > > > Quoting Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>: > > > >> > >> > >> --- On Tue, 25/8/09, David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> > >> > "In The > >> > Alchemist, Paulo Coelho writes, "At a certain point > >> > in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, > >> > and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the > >> > world's greatest lie." > >> > >> But the world doesn't tell lies, genes are not selfish etc. This is a > >> fallacy > >> involving attributing intentional states to objects that cannot have > >> them. It > >> is entirely beside the point that we know this and mean something less > >> literal:- perhaps that the biggest deception of which we might convince > >> ourselves by living is that we lack any control of our lives or that > >> genetic > >> material can be understood as succeeding despite the selection pressures > >> it > >> faces by its having a 'selfish' strategy that maximises its replication. > >> Mary > >> Midgely was not fooled. > >> > >> Donal > >> Speaking up for the silent Wittgensteinian > >> Mind-Your-Grammar School of Thinking > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > >> digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html > >> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html > ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html