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The opposite of 2 is -2, but the opposite of two apples is supposedly no apples. Zero is NOT my hero - it is an abstract construction which does not apply to reality. The true opposite of two apples is the absence of two apples. Shakespeare's "To be or not to be" is much more accurately expressed by Beckett's "Essy-in-Possy". Even Hamlet was not pondering Zero, but the potential of Death.
What troubled me is that if i found two apples on a table, i could count a positive number of apples, but upon finding a bare table, i could not count a negative number of apples. It occurred to me then that instead of a specific number of apples, there is in actuality only the presence or absence of apple. Now suppose that there is not a specific number of fruit in the world, but merely the presence or absence of fruit. Next apply food, and so on (notice that as the category of existence broadens, the easier it is to conceive that there is no specific number). i had surprised myself with a proof of Monism!
posted by Arthur @
4/18/2002 10:49:00 PM
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Thursday, April 18, 2002  |
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