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Old 03-15-2008, 06:19 AM   #21 (permalink)
roachboy
 
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Quote:
"assuming there are an infinite number of possibilities for god"
where does this assumption come from?
how do you imagine this would involve an atheist in your op?


let's give this goofy thing the benefit of the doubt.

say there's an operation behind it---say youre transposing something like giodarno bruno's idea that there are infinite possible worlds.

so:

world=>category=>meaning understood as manifold of possibilities=>a manifold of possibilities is a collection of all possible exemplars of the category==>if the category is "world" then it follows that there are infinite possible worlds.

none of this gets started without the category "world."

the demonstration repeats the characteristics imputed to "meaning."

if you assume a meaning is a manifold, when you ask about a meaning, you find a manifold.
as a manifold, a meaning would "contain" all possible exemplars.
a manifold in this sense is maybe a "tree" diagram that would connect all possible exemplars of the category.
another way: this particular idea of "meaning" is spatialized (projected onto the world) as a tree of exemplars, say.
a tree of clay pots would be the manifold "clay pot".

for any given category, there's an infinite number (?) of potential examples of the category.
but infinite here implies indeterminate: you can't make an exhaustive list of them. your tree cannot indicate all possible exemplars. there's always n+1. so maybe an arithmetical infinity, in the sense that you can't create a closed set. indeterminate more like.


anyway: nothing here goes beyond a discussion of the characteristics of a particular idea of "meaning" as it is applied to the case of a noun.

a meaning is a manifold is a meaning is a manifold.

"world" here: world=>category=>meaning understood as manifold of possibilities=>a manifold of possibilities is a collection of all possible exemplars of the category==>if the category is "world" then it follows that there are infinite possible worlds.


possible logic to justify substituting "god" for "world":

world is a category
god is a category
therefore god=world.

so we are basically being asked about the noun "god" which exists as a noun and just as a noun---and about the meanings that are or can be attached to that noun..

if that's the case, then what you're asking us to do is agree with you that the word "god" exists, and that a conception of what a meaning is also exists such that we can think in terms of infinite possibilities without loosing all specificity.

congratulations.
we have demonstrated that the word "god" exists and is a noun.
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Last edited by roachboy; 03-15-2008 at 06:24 AM..
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