Uncritical Semantics Is The Myth

Unlike Descartes, We Own And Use Our Beliefs Of The Moment, Even In The Midst Of Philosophizing, Until By What Is Vaguely Called Scientific Method We Change Them Here And There For The Better. Within Our Own Total Evolving Doctrine, We Can Judge Truth As Earnestly And Absolutely As Can Be, Subject To Correction, But That Goes Without Saying.

How Are We To Adjudicate Among Rival Ontologies? Certainly The Answer Is Not Provided By The Semantical Formula "to Be Is To Be The Value Of A Variable"; This Formula Serves Rather, Conversely, In Testing The Conformity Of A Given Remark Or Doctrine To A Prior Ontological Standard.

Uncritical Semantics Is The Myth Of A Museum In Which The Exhibits Are Meanings And The Words Are Labels. To Switch Languages Is To Change The Labels.

Students Of The Heavens Are Separable Into Astronomers And Astrologers As Readily As The Minor Domestic Ruminants Into Sheep And Goats, But The Separation Of Philosophers Into Sages And Cranks Seems To Be More Sensitive To Frames Of Reference.

Confusion Of Sign And Object Is Original Sin Coeval With The Word.