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Re:Evidence that ancient farms had different origins than pr... by sverige on Saturday August 05, 2017 @10:48PM (#14939406)
> this is much more complex than we thought it was. > it seems the deeper one dives into any topic the more difficult it is to, as the article says, "draw the lines". Has anybody experienced an intellectual exploration to the contrary?

This is the very tension between Platonism with its emphasis on unity and Aristotelianism which sees complex diversity everywhere. How can we get these two systems to work together? How can we have both unity and diversity?

And now you know where the word "university" comes from.

(Who says all those history and philosophy classes were a waste of time? Besides me, I mean.)

Re:Evidence that ancient farms had different origins than pr... by shardinator on Sunday August 06, 2017 @12:59AM (#14939769)
>> How can we have both unity and diversity?

I've always seen things as having a 'level of abstraction'. At one level of abstraction things can have unity, but as you 'zoom in' and change the level of abstraction you'll see the differences and have diversity.

From a distance stars and snowflakes all look the same, but not on closer inspection. Similarly in a foreign country, at first people will all seem the same, but as you spend more time there you level of abstraction changes and you start to see greater diversity.

Since you can zoom in/out infinitely there's no correct level of abstraction to start from or accept as a default, therefore things have great unity and diversity, simultaneously.

Re:Evidence that ancient farms had different origins than pr... by coolaliasbro on Sunday August 06, 2017 @06:33PM (#14944064)
Superpositions!