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That's not what reification means, it's more a form of Platonism (Idealism), plus. See The Meno and it's discussion of the forms (say, the "form" of a spoon.) P
by Nomentatus 8y ago
That's not what reification means, it's more a form of Platonism (Idealism), plus. See The Meno and it's discussion of the forms (say, the "form" of a spoon.) Plato would reify democracy (although he hated it) but most of us certainly do not. A nominalist (even a Berkeley follower) could discuss democracy perfectly well.
- qubex 8y agoI'm pretty well versed in what reification means. Fundamentally it entails taking a theoretical concept and treating it as if it were a tangible, almost embodied, thing. Maybe my example wasn't the best but this “democracy thing” gets discussed as if it has material properties: that it can expand, that it can be transported from one place to another, that it can be expelled from a locale, and so forth. Those are pretty material attributes to assign to something that is actually notional.
- Nomentatus 8y agoNow if you look up tangible... I think you're caviling, at this point.
- qubex 8y ago“Tangible” means touchable and has a Latin root; “tangere” still means “to touch” (though somewhat archaic) in my native Italian. That same Latin root is why we call linear equations that share the gradient of a given curve evaluated at the point where they cross to be “tangential”. Look, we could go on with this all day. What’s your point? To show your terminology and grasp of topics is greater than mine? Is this some kind of passing match? Because I’m really not interested in these schoolyard antics.
- Nomentatus 8y agoSo, how do you pinch a democracy, physically? By avoiding answering my point in my last message, you're still caviling. One progresses to the end of a conversation by honestly answering the points made, and you aren't interested in doing that.