Problems with Definitions in Escrow
blancw at pylon.com
blancw at pylon.com
Sun Sep 4 21:48:11 PDT 1994
Responding to msg by James A. Donald:
If you *define* reputations to be something formal and
explicit, and say that the system will work because
people guard their reputations, then reputations
become something that can be most efficiently granted
and withdrawn by some centralized authority.
. . . . . . . . . . .
I am complaining about dangerous carelessness in your
use and definition of words. Your use of the word
reputation is as fraught with frightful consequences
as Marx's use of the word "value".
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Perhaps when you decry the establishment of 'definitions' you
mean that a concept should not be circumbscribed tightly within
the boundaries of a pre-determined range of meaning?
I thought what Hal intended by 'examining & defining' a term,
was simply to assess what it means to those who are seeking to
apply it, rather than intending to confine it in advance of any
real knowledge of its actual reference.
Blanc
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