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Figuring this out is one of the central questions of phenomenology... how is it that after seeing a couple of trees, we can recognize almost any kind of tree fr
by radicaldreamer 3y ago
Figuring this out is one of the central questions of phenomenology... how is it that after seeing a couple of trees, we can recognize almost any kind of tree from any angle? What is intrinsic about a tree that makes this possible? What (or is) there a pure form of a tree?
- mrguyorama 3y agoSince definitions aren't concrete, and language is explicitly a popularity contest, you are not learning "what makes a tree a tree", but rather "what people call a tree" You are re-deriving an existing definition, not an actual physical reality. This is a great example actually, because there is no genetic or biologic definition of a tree, and what we call a tree is matched better by some idealized representation of info like "has a trunk maybe". Also that the definition you develop is rarely rigorously tested in practice, so you only need about 80%, and basic pattern matching can get you that really easily.