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>> I can't show you "green" unless I show you a green thing. > Green is quite literally a figment of our imagination All words are made up, so in that sense "

>> I can't show you "green" unless I show you a green thing. > Green is quite literally a figment of our imagination All words are made up, so in that sense "figments of imagination." Green is a shared concept. Like cold. Or love. Or justice. And to address the author, just like those other non-concrete things, green is literally a noun.

sillysaurusx 2y ago
The trouble with those concepts is that there’s no way to measure them precisely. This tends to be at odds with the scientific method, though people try to sidestep them. E.g. the noun definition of green is > a color intermediate in the spectrum between yellow and blue, an effect of light with a wavelength between 500 and 570 nanometers; found in nature as the color of most grasses and leaves while growing, of some fruits while ripening, and of the sea. This is different than saying that quarks exist, and that protons are formed from two up quarks and one down quark. These are truths of nature, whereas your examples are of human nature. It’s hard to even say whether a statement about them is true or not, let alone that those things exist.
ysofunny 2y ago
this is my way out of the "what is truth?" questioning "the truth" is conceptually an adjective. to treat it as a noun is to get into philosophically tight spaces.
lisper 2y ago
> green is literally a noun Well, it can be, if you say something like, "I ate some greens." But most of the time it's an adjective, as in, "The pine trees were tall and green."
- cgriswald 2y ago
  “Green” is the noun that describes the property being referenced by the adjective.
  - lisper 2y ago
    Do you think "big" is a noun? Can you show me a big? Two bigs?
    - cgriswald 2y ago
      No, I know green is a noun and I can show you two greens.
      - lisper 2y ago
        Would you please? Because I cannot imagine how you would do it. I can imagine how you could show me two green things, just as I can imagine how you could show me two big things, but I cannot imagine how you could show me two greens but not two bigs. Please enlighten me.
        cgriswald 2y ago
        Yes, I need a green thing to show you a green. But you are looking at a green when you view the green thing. I can show you “big” but cannot show you two bigs because big is a comparison of the size of two things. Size is a property of a thing (and yes, I can show you two sizes).
        lisper 2y ago
        > you are looking at a green when you view the green thing Am I looking at a big when I look at a big thing? Are you a native English speaker?
        cgriswald 2y ago
        Yes, I am a native English speaker. No, you are not looking at a big when you are looking at “a big thing”. You are looking at a size when you are looking at an object with size. Is this going somewhere?

sillysaurusx 2y ago

The trouble with those concepts is that there’s no way to measure them precisely. This tends to be at odds with the scientific method, though people try to sidestep them. E.g. the noun definition of green is > a color intermediate in the spectrum between yellow and blue, an effect of light with a wavelength between 500 and 570 nanometers; found in nature as the color of most grasses and leaves while growing, of some fruits while ripening, and of the sea. This is different than saying that quarks exist, and that protons are formed from two up quarks and one down quark. These are truths of nature, whereas your examples are of human nature. It’s hard to even say whether a statement about them is true or not, let alone that those things exist.

ysofunny 2y ago

this is my way out of the "what is truth?" questioning "the truth" is conceptually an adjective. to treat it as a noun is to get into philosophically tight spaces.

lisper 2y ago

> green is literally a noun Well, it can be, if you say something like, "I ate some greens." But most of the time it's an adjective, as in, "The pine trees were tall and green."

cgriswald 2y ago
“Green” is the noun that describes the property being referenced by the adjective.
- lisper 2y ago
  Do you think "big" is a noun? Can you show me a big? Two bigs?
  - cgriswald 2y ago
    No, I know green is a noun and I can show you two greens.
    - lisper 2y ago
      Would you please? Because I cannot imagine how you would do it. I can imagine how you could show me two green things, just as I can imagine how you could show me two big things, but I cannot imagine how you could show me two greens but not two bigs. Please enlighten me.
      - cgriswald 2y ago
        Yes, I need a green thing to show you a green. But you are looking at a green when you view the green thing. I can show you “big” but cannot show you two bigs because big is a comparison of the size of two things. Size is a property of a thing (and yes, I can show you two sizes).
        lisper 2y ago
        > you are looking at a green when you view the green thing Am I looking at a big when I look at a big thing? Are you a native English speaker?
        cgriswald 2y ago
        Yes, I am a native English speaker. No, you are not looking at a big when you are looking at “a big thing”. You are looking at a size when you are looking at an object with size. Is this going somewhere?