and they don't want to just
>look at what the excepted defintion is, the want to _really_ know.
>But this assumes that there is a _real_ meaning to words like sex,
>crime, violence, ect, appart from how they are used. Believing this
>is to believe in the platonic forms, which I think is a mistake. Is
>rape sexual? It is if people (but which people? How many people?)
>decide that it is.
Okay, I think it is a big jump to say that people who want "real" meanings
to words are also people who beleive in Platonic form. I am of the first
group but not the latter. Why can't their be meanings to words: that is,
why can't words just apply to certain objects with a defined parameter?
The problem with taking a Wittgensteinian position here, is that confusion
arises when people are using words to mean different things. For example,
for some people, the term "pornography" means any depictions of sexually
explicit- that is exposed organs etc, material whereas for others it means
sexually explicit material which degrades or hurts. One must always get
clear on one's terms.
This is not to deny that many terms in our language have an open defintion.
Your position does not follow without some help.
Jeff
>look at what the excepted defintion is, the want to _really_ know.
>But this assumes that there is a _real_ meaning to words like sex,
>crime, violence, ect, appart from how they are used. Believing this
>is to believe in the platonic forms, which I think is a mistake. Is
>rape sexual? It is if people (but which people? How many people?)
>decide that it is.
Okay, I think it is a big jump to say that people who want "real" meanings
to words are also people who beleive in Platonic form. I am of the first
group but not the latter. Why can't their be meanings to words: that is,
why can't words just apply to certain objects with a defined parameter?
The problem with taking a Wittgensteinian position here, is that confusion
arises when people are using words to mean different things. For example,
for some people, the term "pornography" means any depictions of sexually
explicit- that is exposed organs etc, material whereas for others it means
sexually explicit material which degrades or hurts. One must always get
clear on one's terms.
This is not to deny that many terms in our language have an open defintion.
Your position does not follow without some help.
Jeff