The reason that you and I do not believe in witches is the same reason that people in 14th-century Europe believed that there were witches. People we trust have told us that there are no witches all our lives, witches are incompatible with our view of the world, and we have seen no evidence that there are witches. Similarly, a person in 14th-century Europe has been told by people that they trust all their lives that there are witches, witches are compatible with his or her view of the world, and he or her has seen no evidence that there are not witches. This is how human cognition works.
Aristotle was, of course, right, but that does not have a bearing on this argument.
----- Original Message ---- From: C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Sun, November 8, 2009 2:15:16 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] How radical was Derrida? (was 'does anyone read poststructuralism anymore?')
But x is universally wrong, and there are no (effectual) witches.
As Aristotle points out, the truth of some things depends on believing this or that, but that of other things doesn't.