On Aug 10, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
> ravi: "That all concepts spring from the senses?"
>
> [WS:] As you know, I am extremely reluctant to use the word "all" so
> I would say, quite a lot of them - more than idealists can possibly
> imagine - at least according to George Lakoff who claims that many
> abstract concepts are metaphors built on basic sensory perceptions. it
> may or may not be true (it is not possible to verify that) - but I
> believe this because I tend to be a philosophical nominalist and I
> have a long standing aversion to idealism.
Dropping the words "all" (many concepts are just wrong) and "spring from" (many correct concepts derive from other correct concepts--that is what rationality means for humans) we are left with the correct concept that all correct concepts *correspond* directly or (generally) indirectly to basic sensory perceptions (which is why diagrams are essential to the teaching of geometry). This is neither Nominalism nor its cousin Idealism. Its just (platonic) Realism or its cousin (hegelian/marxian) "Dialectical Materialism."
Shane Mage
"scientific discovery is basically recognition of obvious realities that self-interest or ideology have kept everybody from paying attention to"