[Phys-L] Re: Fields etc

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>]

OK, what do <you> mean when you  use the word "reify" in the context dof
measuring forces?
                        Regards,
                                Jack


On Fri, 25 Mar 2005, Jim Green wrote:

> At 12:43 25 03 2005 , the following was  received:
> > At the risk of sounding like a former president, what do you mean by
> > "real"?
> >                         Regards,
> >                                 Jack
>
> Jack, I don't much like the word "real" to describe this sort of
> concept.  In my initial post I used the word "reify" -- You can look this
> up if you wish -- I later reluctantly used the word "real" in quotes
> because others had use this word and I was quoting them.
>
> In retrospect I should not have done this.
>
> Physicists frequently reify or anthropomorphize a concept -- which laudably
> adds a bit of color to a rather dull discussion for students -- but we
> should make this coloring clear both to our students __and__ ourselves. --
> especially in our discussions here.  Otherwise we have posts of which we
> understand the words per se but not the content - as has been pointed out
> elsewhere recently .
>
> Jim

--
"Trust me.  I have a lot of experience at this."
                General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
                just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley
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