On Mon, 1 Nov 1999, Sam Pawlett wrote:
> A lot knowledge of the world is mediated by language but this doesn't
> mean that there is only language or that the world is a text. Language
> refers to real things independant of the human mind and independent of
> social artifacts (of which language is one.)
>
and you can demonstrate this via . . . (wait for it) . . . language. This whistling in the ontological dark cracks me up. I really see no meaningful distinction to be made between claims like this and the claim "God really exists". In each case, you're asserting something that cannot be meaningful verified.
And no, this does not mean (a) I'm a pomo enemy of the Old Man and (b) I'm an atheist. I just wonder how people can be so certain about these ontological (and theological) positions.
Miles