From property class today:
Prof: "How many legs does a sheep have?"
Student: "Uhhh... Four."
Prof: "Now what if we called tails legs? How many legs would a sheep have then?"
Studednt: "Five."
Prof: "Wrong. It would still have four legs even if you called a tail a leg. Just because you designate something as such doesn't make it so."
He said that was from Lincoln.
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2 comments:
in CHID, we used to talk about how classificatory words have a tenuous relationship with the nature of reality. The nature of language is that it is one of the few things that because we invented it, it becomes real. The example was that we invent the classification "mammal" (all things with breasts), then we walked around pointing at things saying aha! I have discovered a mammal! It's true, but why? Because we made it so. This power is a surrogate of omnipotence. If you disagree, think about the infinite power of god described in the bible. Now think about what these acts would be if the bible never existed.
Also, when sheep dream, do they count humans?
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