[lbo-talk] Re: The Ontology of Two Chairs (was Reich on sex &...)

John Mage jmage at panix.com
Mon Jan 3 11:15:04 PST 2005


Leigh Meyers wrote:

>>>> I don't know him; does he argue that 2+2=4 can be false? If so,

>>>> I like to see the argument; it would be fascinating.

>>> Well, in base 3, the argument wouldn't be false, it would be

>>> nonsensical.

>> But it isn't _in_ base three, any more than your above sentence is

>> in German.

>

> I'm not sure that this aids Joanna's point, but on a more elementary

> level (that is to say i was taught this in elementary school) the

> truth of 2+2=4 is conditioned on the assumption of the density of

> real numbers. Otherwise 2+2=4 is not true by definition. i.e., if 2

> (as in "2 percent of the vote") stands for all values between more

> than 1.5 and less than 2.5, then 2+2=4 will often be false.

>

> john mage

>

>

> I remember... It was 3rd grade. We did "times tables" with our

> pretzels and milk.

>

> Then we would work with set theory and number lines.

Hi Leigh! Didn't realize we went to the same elementary school.

It wasn't until high school that i realized that it was in fact safe to assume that real numbers (like the _totally_ gorgeous ones) were invariably dense.

john mage



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