kort@hounx.UUCP (B.KORT) (09/11/86)
I have enjoyed the lively discussion on the role of emotion in the construction of logical lines of reasoning, and I was delighted to see Michael Ellis inject the issue of Value Systems. I would now like to advance a provocative conjecture. It is my conjecture that Value Systems are like Mathematical Systems, in that we strive for completeness and internal consistency in the construction of personal Value Systems. Perhaps it can be shown that Value Systems are instances of Kripke Structures. Now I have to admit that my own Value System is enormously influenced by the Judeo-Christian Ethic, with a liberal overlay of Scientific Method, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism. I am influenced by Socrates, Hillel, Jesus, Maimonides, Lao Tse, Mendelsohn, Spinoza, Newton, Einstein, Hofstadter, Bronowski, Sagan, Smullyan, Asimov, and Kripke, to name just a few. Their memes seem to get a long just fine inside my "careenium". I have the illusion that my Value System is internally consistent and derivable from first principles (just like Newton, Russel, or Whitehead suggested). Yet I know from Mr. Goedel that I really have an incomplete value system, and that it can grow forever, sprouting new branches at the perimeter, wherever I detect myself on the horns of yet another moral dilemma. It seems that the discovery of paradox, followed by new insight, followed by the growth of a new branch of the tree of knowledge is a pattern from which there is no escape (thank God). So dear netters. I leave you with a question. Are Value Systems derivable, at least to a first approximation? If so, what role do Aristotelian Logic, Combinatorial Logic, and Intuitionist Logic play in knitting the fabric of Wisdom? Do we knit one stitch and then come up with a perl or two? Or are they all nits, to be picked, plucked, and pruned? Better yet, if I could construct a perfect reasoning machine, and set it to the task of deriving a carefully balanced system of ethics, morals, laws, etc., would it derive a structure resembling that of, say, Mortimer Adler, or would it come up with Khomeni's system of distinguished authority? Barry Kort hounx!kort