RE: Logic issues
R. Sale > 26-04-2020, 07:51 PM
Rene said:
"A" therefore "B"
We have a piece of information "A", and from this we deduce "B".
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It is convenient to consider this to be a straight-forward and fairly singular process. It's nice to think that 'therefore' is an unbiased attempt to discover 'truth' based on fact. Ideally things might work that way, but this is the VMs. Not only the process and naturally the product now have become moving parts. It is also necessary to go back and reconsider the initial substance that constitutes the original input. Essentially it's the old saying: Garbage in, garbage out. And this is particularly true in the investigations of the VMs, because of it's 'ambiguous' appearance.
What can be done? It is necessary to base interpretation on a valid external standard from an independent source. One possible source is the record of medieval tradition. However the problem with this is that various elements of traditional interpretation well-known in that earlier era have essentially been lost for much of the VMs investigative history. The traditions have become obscure, their representations in the VMs are idiosyncratic at the least, if not intentionally obfuscated as well, and the connections to tradition have not been made.
A simple example of this is the recovery of traditional terminology to name the nebuly line. The tradition is based on heraldry. The descriptive term, whether 'nebuly' from Latin or 'gewolkt' from German, has an etymology that indicates a cloud-based derivation. But without the proper terminology, if something cannot be properly named, then it can not be properly interpreted. The whole "A" therefore "B" thing falls apart, and can't get off the ground, if "A" cannot be properly identified. This failure makes for a lot of GIGO.
To demonstrate the validity of the traditional interpretation: nebuly line = cloud band = cosmic boundary, some of the best examples are in the Berry Apocalypse of c. 1415. Interesting, moreover, that this book and the c. 1410 version of Oresme (BNF Fr. 565) both started off in the possession of the same person, Jean, Duke of Berry (d. 1416, Paris).
Furthermore there is the potential for discovery of a higher level of organization with the accumulation of data from different investigations.
In one scenario we may have: "A" therefore "B"; [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]"C" therefore "D"; and [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]"E" therefore "F" etc.[/font][/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]In a second scenario we may have: [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]"L" therefore "X"; [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]"M" therefore "X"; and [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]"N" therefore "X".[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]What does logic indicate then?[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font]