Just because something is relative doesn't mean it has a diminished reality.
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 11:04 pm
Isn't it the case that: just because something is relative doesn't mean it has a diminished reality? I have seen this opinion with some frequency. People reach "it's relative" and stop thinking, often concluding there is nothing more. Maybe 'less' to study than assumed (it is assumed an absolute has more about it to be studied) but not 'nothing' to study. They then conclude (mistakenly, as I see it) that there is no, or less, reality to it.
Example:
Brightness (in terms of visible light) is relative. An environmemt is only bright or not in comparison to other environments (or even in comparison to itself). As I stand in my kitchen I would say it is 'not very bright,' but if I encountered the exact same kitchen, with the exact same amount of light, right after having woken up (where the room is dark), I might call it 'a little bright' (if you have ever seen a movie in the middle of the day you know exactly what I'm talking about: 2 pm looks normal (neither bright nor not bright) compared to 2 pm thirty minutes earlier, but 2 pm looks 'bright as shit' compared to the inside of a movie theator, where it is dark).
After some consideration, I have decided to define brightness, a relative thing, as: the experience of the sufficient amount of light to shrink pupils.
If we want to discuss this, we can. The point of this post is just to say there is indeed something to be studied, even if something is relative.
Example:
Brightness (in terms of visible light) is relative. An environmemt is only bright or not in comparison to other environments (or even in comparison to itself). As I stand in my kitchen I would say it is 'not very bright,' but if I encountered the exact same kitchen, with the exact same amount of light, right after having woken up (where the room is dark), I might call it 'a little bright' (if you have ever seen a movie in the middle of the day you know exactly what I'm talking about: 2 pm looks normal (neither bright nor not bright) compared to 2 pm thirty minutes earlier, but 2 pm looks 'bright as shit' compared to the inside of a movie theator, where it is dark).
After some consideration, I have decided to define brightness, a relative thing, as: the experience of the sufficient amount of light to shrink pupils.
If we want to discuss this, we can. The point of this post is just to say there is indeed something to be studied, even if something is relative.