Sorry, Tim and JohnK,
I stayed out so far of the endless
back-and-forth over the past weeks but now I have a remark:
Tim, you emphasize material reality, in your
bold text.
John, you emphasize material vs. nonmaterial
.
I formulated earlier the weak point of the
"Aris-total" (more than the sum of its parts) as the imperfection in his
(timely) views regarding a total as the sum of the material parts ONLY.
Omitting functions and qualia of the assemblage, connections and influences.
The 'more'.
Since then somebody suggested a word we should
not forget: I think it is "complexity", and Judith may second my notion <G>
It is remarkable how you go into the fine
details of ideas, but beware of falling into a highly reductionistic view
about dissecting things into arbitrary models without combining and
replenishing them .
Besides "material reality" is what we think
so. Models and simulacra. There is a danger to draw conclusions from
intermediate arguments.
Just a caveat, I like to read your
wisdom.
John M