Is it possible for an idea, or anything like an idea, to exist otherwise than in a mind?
You could draw a parallel with Mechanics. There's no such thing as absolute
velocity. All velocity is relative. Nobody or nothing can be descibed as
absolutely stationary. You, for example, are standing or sitting on the
earth which is whizzing through space around the Sun which is whizzing in
space around the Solar System, which is whizzing through space .... and so
it goes on. You must have experienced sitting on a train in a station and
not being sure whether it is you who are moving or the train on the next
platfrom.
Perhaps you could argue there is no such thing as an absolute idea. An idea
is a perception which must have a frame of reference to exist. And one
person's frame of reference must, by definition, be different from another
person's. Any criminal lawyer will tell you that if two people descibe an
incident, both will believe they are telling the truth yet both will give a
(slightly) different account of what actually happened. What is small to
someone is big to somebody else. What is perceived as good by one person
could well be perceived as bad by soembody else.
The problem comes I think when you address yes/no or on/off or true/false
situations. It is not true that all numbers are less than 100. 99 is. 52
is. But 105 isn't. Is this absolute or relative? But then I suppose you
could argue, what is a number?
Specforces
You could draw a parallel with Mechanics. There's no such thing as absolute
velocity. All velocity is relative. Nobody or nothing can be descibed as
absolutely stationary. You, for example, are standing or sitting on the
earth which is whizzing through space around the Sun which is whizzing in
space around the Solar System, which is whizzing through space .... and so
it goes on. You must have experienced sitting on a train in a station and
not being sure whether it is you who are moving or the train on the next
platfrom.
Perhaps you could argue there is no such thing as an absolute idea. An idea
is a perception which must have a frame of reference to exist. And one
person's frame of reference must, by definition, be different from another
person's. Any criminal lawyer will tell you that if two people descibe an
incident, both will believe they are telling the truth yet both will give a
(slightly) different account of what actually happened. What is small to
someone is big to somebody else. What is perceived as good by one person
could well be perceived as bad by soembody else.
The problem comes I think when you address yes/no or on/off or true/false
situations. It is not true that all numbers are less than 100. 99 is. 52
is. But 105 isn't. Is this absolute or relative? But then I suppose you
could argue, what is a number?
Specforces
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