 |
Re: Life, Death, Undeath, and Unlife
Posted By: griefmop (sdn-ar-002aztucsP267.dialsprint.net)
Date: 9/15/2001 at 2:06 a.m.
In Response To: Life, Death, Undeath, and Unlife *PIC* (Archer »–)›)
Your definition of 'death' misses a crucial point. Death implies formerly living, not just privation of life. A rock, for example, is not properly called dead. Of course, it's not properly called living, either, but that just lets you know the terms (properties, if you will) 'living' and 'dead' don't together, one or the other, apply to everything in the world. Just as, for example, 'even' and 'odd', which apply to (the natural) numbers, but not to other things. There's no a priori reason to expect any pair of contraries to apply to everything, one or the other.
Incidentally, 'defining your terms', while admirable to a degree, is also a classic way to play tricks of sophistry. We often don't fully appreciate the meaning of a term until it's defined 'in use'.
: •Life (n.) 'lĎf
: –the existence of living.
: –the essence of being alive.
: •Alive (adj.) ä · lIv'
: –in the state of life.
: –in the state of having life.
Now, this is highly circular here, and it really gets you nothing. If you want to do this right I suggest you have some point as a given and move from there. 'Life', for example, strikes me as a fair enough starting point.
Life; {given} [i.e., set aside for another time, assume we all agree on it for now, or at least that any differences on 'life' can be settled aside from the question at hand]
Alive; having life
That seems a lot simpler and less confusing to me. You also avoid the nonsense of 'essences', which gets you nothing.
: •Death (n) 'deth
: –the existence of not living.
: –the essence of not being alive.
: –the essence of being dead.
As I said earlier, this definition is mistaken.
Death; the end of life
: •Dead (adj.) 'ded
: –in the state of death.
: –in the state of not living.
As is this one.
Dead; no longer living
: •Undead (adj.) ün · ded'
: –in the state of not being dead.
: –in the state of undeath.
Then everyone living is undead? Rocks are undead? No no no. See the sophistry you've gotten in to from 'defining your terms'? Just because undead looks like a composite of un- and dead doesn't mean it is. And you've just given a classic counterexample. The sheer ridiculousness of the possibility that you and I and a rock are undead is proof that the meaning of 'undead' is not equivalent to the meaning of 'un-' plus the meaning of 'dead'.
Messages In This Thread
For your own future enjoyment, please report any major forum abusers or cgi errors so we can remedy the problem. If you have any questions email us.
| The Asylum |
|
|
