Thank you, Lacee for your kind words.
1. Reality = the world and everything in it
2. Reality = my mind alone
3. Reality = my mind + the minds of other people
or put another way
1. The Realist
2. The Solipsist
3. The Sophist
These three categories have been around at least as far back as ancient Greece. Don't worry, Im not going to launch into the history of philosophy. Ill limit my comments to what, IMO, is happening on this thread...
Whats happening is that The Realist and the Solipsist and the Sophist are at war. It's a fight that started long before them, and that will outlive them. And its not merely academic. These conflicting attitudes toward Reality shape a huge array of individual behaviors and cultural forces. I talked about that at length in this post on 6/8. In it, I framed things in terms of Dogmatism and Obscurantism, but it's easy to see that Dogmatism is a *de facto* form of Solipsism and Obscurantism is a *de facto* form of Sophistry.
Whereas the Realist knows that Reality is mostly outside his control, the Solipsist and the Sophist act as though Reality can be controlled by thoughts, hopes, wishes, fantasies. This is the essence of Magical Thinking.
The loose connection that Solipsists have to Reality can be seen in the Dogmatists hostile resistance to opposing views on it. The loose connection that Sophists have to Reality can be see in the Obscurantists flagrant disregard for it.
The Solipsist needs to convince only HIMSELF to feel vindicated in his sense of Reality. The Sophist needs to convince OTHER PEOPLE to feel vindicated in his sense of Reality.
The principal thing the Solipsist gains from his attitude toward Reality is the illusion of control over it, which can be a great source of comfort. The principal thing the Sophist gains from his attitude toward Reality is control over the minds of other people, which can be a great source of personal gain.
Because of his inclination toward Magical Thinking, the Solipsist is the Sophist's primary victim. Because of his allegiance to a Reality outside himself, the Realist is the Sophist's primary enemy.
This fight happens every day, both here on Audiogon and out there where it counts.
Bryon
My amazement is that we are arguing about a device that costs less than 100 bucks.That irony isn't lost on me. But as I'm sure you're aware, this thread isn't really about fuses, at least not any more. It's about Reality, IMO, and three entirely different attitudes toward it
1. Reality = the world and everything in it
2. Reality = my mind alone
3. Reality = my mind + the minds of other people
or put another way
1. The Realist
2. The Solipsist
3. The Sophist
These three categories have been around at least as far back as ancient Greece. Don't worry, Im not going to launch into the history of philosophy. Ill limit my comments to what, IMO, is happening on this thread...
Whats happening is that The Realist and the Solipsist and the Sophist are at war. It's a fight that started long before them, and that will outlive them. And its not merely academic. These conflicting attitudes toward Reality shape a huge array of individual behaviors and cultural forces. I talked about that at length in this post on 6/8. In it, I framed things in terms of Dogmatism and Obscurantism, but it's easy to see that Dogmatism is a *de facto* form of Solipsism and Obscurantism is a *de facto* form of Sophistry.
Whereas the Realist knows that Reality is mostly outside his control, the Solipsist and the Sophist act as though Reality can be controlled by thoughts, hopes, wishes, fantasies. This is the essence of Magical Thinking.
The loose connection that Solipsists have to Reality can be seen in the Dogmatists hostile resistance to opposing views on it. The loose connection that Sophists have to Reality can be see in the Obscurantists flagrant disregard for it.
The Solipsist needs to convince only HIMSELF to feel vindicated in his sense of Reality. The Sophist needs to convince OTHER PEOPLE to feel vindicated in his sense of Reality.
The principal thing the Solipsist gains from his attitude toward Reality is the illusion of control over it, which can be a great source of comfort. The principal thing the Sophist gains from his attitude toward Reality is control over the minds of other people, which can be a great source of personal gain.
Because of his inclination toward Magical Thinking, the Solipsist is the Sophist's primary victim. Because of his allegiance to a Reality outside himself, the Realist is the Sophist's primary enemy.
This fight happens every day, both here on Audiogon and out there where it counts.
Bryon