Hi,

Well, as I thought, you are doing philosophical analysis here! The issue you are dealing with is exactly "the telephone exchange analogy" issue.

In that analogy, someone imagines that all their knowledge of the world comes to them through wires, and that they are isolated from the world in a telephone exchange.

The analogy collapses because it has to presume "the rest of the world" in order to deny contact with it.

As in the solution to that issue, "the telephone exchange seems to have collapsed into the operator"; your "something B" collapses into your something A.

But I'm not sure your conclusion matches John Hospers; the result of all this is that you ARE in direct contact with reality- which is my point.

At least, you acknowledge at the end of your post what Harv and I have been trying to tell you: "reality is what (and who) exists".

You seem to conclude that "the world outside the exchange", "something B", can never be known. The correct conclusion is the opposite of that: it is that there is no such world; no exchange; no isolation from reality. You are in DIRECT contact with reality; you can answer questions about reality.

How about addressing some issues in my "rest of reply to Dr. Dick" post?

-dolphin

• You misunderstand my perspective! - doctordick - April 2, 2002 - 16:47 UTC
  • Thank you - dolphin - April 4, 2002 - 09:39 UTC