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In the words attributed to Joseph Stalin: "Quantity has a quality all its own."
by yesbabyyes 13y ago
In the words attributed to Joseph Stalin: "Quantity has a quality all its own."
- shaaaaawn 13y agoNever heard this quote. Very true.
- coldtea 13y agoWell, this particular quote might come from Stalin, but it's based on an old Hegelian idea, that of a surplus of quantity becoming quality (add enough mass and you get a black hole, temperature over 100oC and you get boiling water, etc). (Makes sense, since Marx, Lenin, Stalin et co were heavy readers of Hegel). From Wikipedia: "One important dialectical principle for Hegel is the transition from quantity to quality, which he terms the Measure." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic#Hegelian_dialectic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic#Hegelian_dialectic Also check the ancient greek notion of the "sorites paradox", which deals with a similar idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorites_paradox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorites_paradox