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Does anyone know the resource for this ancient premise. I learned it
in a
high school symbolic logic class. I have also observed the side
effects of
starting with it as an assumption in dealings between co-workers,
ie,
looking for the false premise in order to disagree with all which
followed.
I found that to be very damaging to constructive interactions, or
even to
just *hearing* the other person.
When Sheila Tobias visited the University of Texas at Austin, and
spoke on
"They're not dumb, they're different", many of my colleagues looked
for the
false premise and never heard the message. I'd like to revisit the
context
of the quote, as it may explain a lot of our social interactions (or
lack
thereof) as scientists. Karl
principle of
That's like asking
"Suppose I sprint across the town square in a town that
doesn't have a town square; will I get tired?"
or
"Suppose 2 = 3; Does that mean that 4 = 5?"
The answer is anything you want it to be. There is an ancient
logic that says if you start from a false premise, you can proveanything
you want to.
______________________________________________________________
copyright (C) 1999 John S. Denker jsd@monmouth.com
Dr. Karl I. Trappe Desk Phone: (512)
471-4152
Physics Dept, Mail Stop C-1600 Demo Office: (512)
471-5411
The University of Texas at Austin Home Phone: (512)
264-1616
Austin, Texas 78712-1081