A
McGill
University
Foundations & Philosophy of Science Unit
Dear Mr Forman
I am overwhelmed by your many and varied g i f t s , as x e l l a s by your generous
treatment of my ontology i n your METAPFZSICS 03 LL3ZRTY.
W e are Iistening
t o t h e t a p e s , I have s t a r t e d t o look a? same o f tfte xe-nox copies, and have
read aL1 of your d i s s e r t a t i o n . The only d i s s o r i a c z %-t t h e whole symphony
was Ayn Rand's awfully vulgar . s t u f f . I sxspect you added it as a pinch of
snuff.
You would be o v e r r a t i n g me i f you were t o believe t 5 a t I am capable of saying
anything i n t e r e s t i n g o r important about yam v s r y n3vel way o f p u t t i n g toget h e r questions o f otibology, economics, a d l a w , So, l e t me concentrate only
on a few s i a k p o i n t s .
You object t o my p o s t u l a t e t'nz? t h e e me only f i n i t e l y many general
s u b s t a n t i a l p r o p e r t i e s . How would you ' h a w i f tfie~sx e r e i n f i n i t e l y many? Aft e r a l l , we can g e t t o know only a fin:-& numbzr of them, Moreover, so far i n
our s c i e n t i f i c experience t h e p o s t u l a t e 52s been c o ~ f 5 m e d . O f course, i f we
had some (very i n d i r e c t ) evidence f o r an infiii2tS of general p r o p e r t i e s , we
would g i v e up P o s t u l a t e 2.3 and a l l of its consec_ue~ces--as b e f i t s a s c i e n t i f i c ontology. Moreover you make t h e o5j ezt5on w Z t 3 tcngue i n cheek, a s you
admit yourself t h a t , being f i n i t e beings, we z e l b i t e d t o considering only
f i n i t e l y many p r o p e r t i e s and, t h e r e f ore, c l a s s i f i c z s i c ~ s
1. P. 68.
.
.
/
2. P 69. I l i k e your slogan " e p i s t e m c l ~ g i c a l&&.ictionism, s l ; o n t o l o g i c a l
reductionism, no1'.
However, I q u a l i f y t h e forme? 5n Vol. 6, Ch. 1 0 , Sect. 3.1.:
most ~ e d u c t i o n sare p a r t i a l r a t h e r t h a 5~11. (Iiicldentally, t h e publisher
has forced me t o s p l i t t h e volume on gzaeal e p i s t a o l o g y and methodology i n t o
two, namely current Vols. 5 and 6. So, t 5 e work w l l l have a t o t a l o f 8 vols.
Also by t h e way, Vols. 5 and 6 a r e j u s t out .)
3. P. 77.
Simon' s mechanistic arld r e C u c t i o n i s t i c x o r l d view is prima f a c i e
a t t r a c t i v e b u t it c o l l a p s e s on second Thought :. first, it i s c o r p u s ~ c u l a r i s t i c :
he does not know of f i e l d s .
Second, Z t ? o s t u l a t e s t h a t t h e components of a
s t a b l e system a r e themselves s t a b l e . Co-mterexar;131_s: t h e neutrons, which a r e
s t a b l e i n most atoms (e.g. in t h e h e d i u r aiom), "live" only a few minutes when
d
f r e e ( i . e . o u t s i d e atoms).
4. P. 81, and a l s o e a r l i e r : Jaynes's c o l j s c t u r e or, t h e very recent emergence of
d e l i b e r a t e a c t i o n seems t o me crazy. If t h e G R e ~ k sinputed t h e i r gods d e l i b e r a t e
a c t i o n , and blamed them f o r whatever t5ey d i d t h s z s e l v e s , i s t h i s liot s u f f i c i e n t
i n d i c a t i o n t h a t t h e y were conversant witk t h e cozcept?
Pp. 89. I agree with your c r i t i c i s m thz? adeqaacj- o f knowledge, c o r r e c t
I z- s t i l l d i s s a t i s f i e d with my
evaluation, and compuls ion"come"ir? d e z e e s
previous t h e o r i e s of p a r t i a l t r u t h (Vol. 20Imd of value.
.
Postal address: 3479 Peel Street, Montreal, PO,Canada H3A 7W7
Pp. 110-111. On t h e mode of existence of c o n s t r u c t s , 5- p w t i c u l a =a=h. conc e p t s , s e e ~y S c i e n t i f i c Materialism (Reidel 1981) =d Ch. 1 o f my f-3~~:lcoIIIing
Vol 7 ( d e a l i n g with t h e P h i l . of s c i . & t e c h , ) , 1'; is p o s s i b l y the t c a g h e s t
o f a l l philosophical problems. The P l a t o n i c s o l u t i o n i s t h e b e s t p~ovL3edmath.
be detached from t h e rest. But one's ontology o f c o n s t r u c t s shozl6 jl5e w i t h
h i s ontology of c h a i r s , e t c . And science zakes YK) FOOD f o r auto~rornc-1sLye x i s t ing i d e a s , e.g. ' f o r P l s t o n i c t r i a n g l e s o u t s i d e geowtrjr, o r 5or g e o ~ e e yo u t s i d e
brains.
What you cannot
- do i s t o i n t e r p o l a t e a l a y e r o f c a n s t r u c t s i z t o t h e
l e v e l system 05 c o n c r e t e r e a l i t y ( p . 112).
.
P. 113 The "empirically-oriented blest"? What more e m p i r i c a l l y minded t h a n t h e
Chinese? What more contemptuous o? experience than t h e t y p i c a l m ~ t h e m ~ t i c a l
The trml'nie with
economist and t h e t y p i c a l p o l i t i c a l economist i n t h e West?
t h e Chinese i s t h e i r general contezpt f o r theory; t h e t r o u b l e with t 3 e Xest is
t h e i r ready acceptance o f myth ( r e l i g i o u s , p o l i t i c a l , economical, e t c , I
The
g r e a t e s t c o n t r i b u t i o n of t h e W e s t ( s t a r t i n g with c l a s s 5 c a l Greece) may y-i?t
b e seen a s t h e c r e a t i o a of a b s t r a c t thought, i n p a r t i c u a r math, 2nd dcmeracy
.
.
P. 115 Are t h e y e t o t a l i t a r i a n s o c i a l c o n t r a c t s ? Is n o t t o t a l i t a r i a i s r e based
on f o r c e and obedience--sometimes q u i t e w i l l i n g o b e d i e ~ c e , a s i s the cBe with
Cuba nowadays ?
P. 114 Fron your quotations o f Suchanan's it seems t o me t h a t he is not an
a l l - o u t a x l o l o g i c a l i n d i v i d u a l i s t , and t h a t he rnigh~be persuaded to z?opt a
t
systemic vieqodint : ( a ) no v a l u a t i o n a p a r t from i n d i v i 3 u a l s : every - ~ a i u aion
i s a l p r o c e s s occurring i n an i n d i ~ r i d u a lb r a i n ; (b) t h e more knowiedgsaf.le an
i n d i v i d u a l t h e g r e a t e r t h e v a r i e t y o f kinds of t h i n g he can eval~zte--?song
The t h i n g s he does e v a l u a t e a r e his own s o c i a l groups zs sysTems, n o t 2 s mere
c o l l e c t i o n s o f indzviduals; ( c ) c e r t a i n items a c q u ~ eOF l o s e t h e i r 7 a l u e because o f t h e i r p l a c e i n society--e.g. d o l l a r b i l l s z r e u s e l e s s t o t h e shipwrecked,
snowplows t o t h e Nicaraguans.
I enjoyed your d i g s a t u t i l i t y t h e o r i s t s (of which I used t o 3 e an en122
You should devote a whole
t h u s iast i c advocate and occasional p r a c t i t i o n e r )
c h a p t e r ( o r a r t i c l e o r book) t o a3 o b j e c t i v e c r i t i c i s m o f s u b j e c t L v l s r l c u t i l i t y
theory. ( I s t i l l hope t o b e a b l e t o c o n s t r u c t an o b j 2 c t i v F s t i c one.)
.
I gJess my dog
1 2 3 Not sure t h a t t h e r e l i g i o u s impulse i s e x c l u s i ~ r e l yhuman.
r e g a r d s m e a s an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnisnZfkg s u p e r c a i r - 2 3eing. H e
And he worships xe.
seems always t o b e expecting some miracle from me.
General observations: ( a ) your English is b e a u t i f u l ; (3) you have a t m d e n c y
t o s t r a y -from t h e pok-t , which I f i n d enjoyable becausa it makes f o r l i g h t e r
r e a d i n g , but which may offend people i n a rush t o learn "what m a t t e s " ; ( c )
you should e l u c i d a t e t h e n o t i o n ( s ) of l i b e r t y r a t h e r t5an t a k e it ( t h a ) f o r
granted. I arn f r e e f r o n t h e t e r r o r s of r e l i g i o n ; i a~ f%ee t o p-mscz ny own
i n t e r e s t s ; Americans are ( o f t e n ) f r e e t o d i s s e n t b u t nor a l ~ a y s5 e z i3 work;
Cubans a r e f r e e t o work (and o v e r ~ o r k ! ) kit not t o Aissent; I may e z j o y c u l t u r a l
and p o l i t 2 c a l freedom but not economic freedom--or c o n ~ e r s e l y ,azd s3 on and s o
f o r t h . Since t h e r e a r e many kinds o f l i b e r t y , t h e r e z?e a l s o may 5 2 3 s o f libertarianism. Thus Hayek continues t o s m p o r t entrep=.eneurial free%:
but has
come t o p r a i s e P i n o c h e t T s r e g h e 5 o r ensuring it, s o 1-2 h a s ceased zo 5 e a p o l i t i c a l l i b e r a l . The Scandinavian socialde?ocrats atte;--?t t o ensure A 1 freedoms
except t h e economic eeedom ( t o e x p l o i t ) , which they a r t a i l - - r i g h t l y s o i n my
view.
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Thank you f o r g i v i n g me t h e opportunity t o read your czper, whic3 I ezjoyed.
I must go
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