Comment on Rationally Irrational

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:18:07 GMT

I think the problem might be that what we're calling "map" and what we're calling "territory" both fit under your definition of "territory", while you consider the "map" to mean a hypothetical outside-the-universe 'essential essence.' Does that capture it?

So I don't really know what to say. Because you have definitely captured it, but it is like you don't see it in the same way I do? I don't know. You say

The last thing I believe is that our minds are 'abstract souls.'

But to me the idea that a physical oak leaf and your mental image are not the same thing is the same thing as saying you believe in 'abstract souls' or a hypothetical outside-the-universe 'essential essence.' It is the modern adaptation of the soul. Just as the croc is the modern adaptation of the shoe. It is packaged differently, and there are some new functional elements packaged in, but ultimately it stems from the same root.

When you see an oak tree and when you think about an oak tree it triggers the same series of neural impulses in your brain. Athletes visualize their actions before doing them, and this provides real benefits to achieving those actions. For humans, there is never any "physical oak leaf" there is only ever constructs.

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