[lit-ideas] Re: Misreading

  • From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:07:32 -0230

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

Other related posts: