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> “It’s logical, but logic has nothing to do with reality.” Logic is the art or skill of non-contradictory identification. Logic has a single law, the Law of Id

by abtinf 10y ago

> “It’s logical, but logic has nothing to do with reality.” Logic is the art or skill of non-contradictory identification. Logic has a single law, the Law of Identity, and its various corollaries. If logic has nothing to do with reality, it means that the Law of Identity is inapplicable to reality. If so, then: a. things are not what they are; b. things can be and not be at the same time, in the same respect, i.e., reality is made up of contradictions. If so, by what means did anyone discover it? By illogical means. (This last is for sure.) The purpose of that notion is crudely obvious. Its actual meaning is not: “Logic has nothing to do with reality,” but: “I, the speaker, have nothing to do with logic (or with reality).” When people use that catch phrase, they mean either: “It’s logical, but I don’t choose to be logical” or: “It’s logical, but people are not logical, they don’t think—and I intend to pander to their irrationality.” http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/logic.html http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/logic.html

westoncb 10y ago
> If logic has nothing to do with reality, it means that the Law of Identity is inapplicable to reality. That may be the case. If our brain is only capable of forming self-consistent schemas (consider how it reacts when encountering new facts that contradict existing schemas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance), then the world's apparent consistency may only be a consequence of our contemplating it through the human brain. (To be clear though, it's consistency within single schemas—not between, where contradictions abound.) > If so, then: a. things are not what they are; b. things can be and not be at the same time Can someone be a hero and not be a hero at the same time? I think there are some subtleties to this issue arising from the nature of language. Certainly at our scale (i.e. not quantum scales—although even there I don't really think 'real' inconsistency is happening, but it's less clear cut) a certain kind of consistency has very strong empirical support (it's probably our best supported hypothesis!), so it would be adaptive for us to build models of the world that would reflect that property—but this doesn't mean we've hit on something deep about the nature of reality.
- abtinf 10y ago
  To be honest with you, I just about fell out of my chair reading your comment. Seriously, this is the first time I've posted a relevant quote from Ayn Rand on the web and received a substantive and thoughtful response. I will have to think on the points you raise.

by abtinf 10y ago

westoncb 10y ago

> If logic has nothing to do with reality, it means that the Law of Identity is inapplicable to reality. That may be the case. If our brain is only capable of forming self-consistent schemas (consider how it reacts when encountering new facts that contradict existing schemas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance), then the world's apparent consistency may only be a consequence of our contemplating it through the human brain. (To be clear though, it's consistency within single schemas—not between, where contradictions abound.) > If so, then: a. things are not what they are; b. things can be and not be at the same time Can someone be a hero and not be a hero at the same time? I think there are some subtleties to this issue arising from the nature of language. Certainly at our scale (i.e. not quantum scales—although even there I don't really think 'real' inconsistency is happening, but it's less clear cut) a certain kind of consistency has very strong empirical support (it's probably our best supported hypothesis!), so it would be adaptive for us to build models of the world that would reflect that property—but this doesn't mean we've hit on something deep about the nature of reality.

abtinf 10y ago
To be honest with you, I just about fell out of my chair reading your comment. Seriously, this is the first time I've posted a relevant quote from Ayn Rand on the web and received a substantive and thoughtful response. I will have to think on the points you raise.