Every student of philosophy knows how to draw up the lists of primary and secondary qualities: on the left go extension, size, shape or figure, solidity, motion or rest, and number; on the right go color, sound, scent, taste, heat and cold. But what is the principle of the distinction? Does it have to do with objective versus subjective? Categorical versus dispositional? Intrinsic versus extrinsic? Or several or none of these?
To summarize this section, the basis of the primary/secondary quality distinction for Reid cannot be that primary qualities reside in objects and secondary qualities do not (as Berkeley’s Hylas has it), since both sets of qualities reside in objects. Nor can it be that primary qualities resemble their associated ideas or sensations and secondary qualities do not (as Locke has it), since in neither case is there any resemblance. So what, if anything, is the basis for the distinction?
– James Van Cleve, Problems from Reid
Thanks.
Did you buy that book, mung? It’s kind of expensive, no? Jim sent me an email notifying me of it’s appearance, but….no book. X>{ And then too, I was a little pissy that he didn’t mention my paper on Reid and Hall (in which I discuss him a lot), so, being the mature adult I am, I took a pass on it. But he’s a very good philosopher and Reid scholar. And he was an excellent teacher. Nice guy, too.
Yeah, just slow working my way through it. On Chapter 4 now. It is a good book (imo).
Usually have multiple books going at once. Today read Chapter 2 of Feyerabend’s The Tyranny of Science. One of those books Patrick probably hasn’t ever read.
Read some from Mind, Matter and Nature: A Thomistic Proposal for the Philosophy of Mind and a few pages from Causation and Its Basis in Fundamental Physics.
Less time spent reading posts at TSZ leaves more time for reading books, lol.
Also reading today:
Bishop v. Knight: The Verdict
Storm from the Shadows
How’s that for diversity?
“Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can’t expect an angel to look out.”
– Schopenhauer
Some quotes are just meant for Mung, aren’t they?
Guano.
Not at all, it is also true If an Angel looks in you can’t expect an ass to look out.
“If the shoe fits, wear it.”
– Shoepenhauer
Thanks for that list, Mung. Here’s my (i.e., this ass’s) summer reading:
Quine, Philosophy of Logic
Trollope, Marion Fay
Wittgenstein, Notebooks 1914-1916
Nabokov, Pnin
(Patti) Smith, Just Kids
What are/do all the other asses/angels here reading/hope to read?
This has been my summer project.
Vinyl is like a mirror…
You want my LPs?
Watcha got?
(I didn’t finish my thought: “Vinyl is like a mirror: Heavy, fragile and difficult to ship.”)
Reciprocating Bill,
Belt drive?
Yes – the black stripe around the circumference of the platter is the belt. Suitable replacements are hard to get (but not impossible). Somewhat counter-intuitively, a belt that is slightly too thick causes the platter to rotate 3 – 6% too rapidly.
The platter itself weighs seven pounds. It’s a very quiet table.
Underside of platter, with massive shaft and bearing:
I dunno. Somewhere between 750 and 1000 records. About 3/4 classical, with a lot of those being 20th Century atonal, aleatoric or obscure older stuff. The rest is mostly free/avant-garde jazz. By the time I got into “EAI” (electronic-acoustic improv) and metal I wasn’t buying LPs anymore. You can hear some of my own stuff on spotify or myspace: it might give you an idea what I like.
Here you go.
You have to come and get ’em, though.
I see steam heat in the background, which suggests somewhere in the northeast?
Reciprocating Bill,
Reminds me of somebody posting a photo of his pet tortoise on PZ’s blog and all that people commented on was a pile of dirty underpants in the corner of his photo..
How do you explain that? Presumably the motor rotates at a fixed speed and the gearing depends only on relative diameters of the drive-shaft and turntable.
Yeah. I grew up with belt drive. First was an AR — still being used by a lot of people. Had a Thorens and an Empire. Your TT reminds me of the Empire. A little magnet lifts the arm at the end of the record.
Don’t understand how the belt could alter the rotation speed.
Arlington, MA You can take anything you want–free of charge. But I may want to convert them to MP3 first. (I know, I know–sacreligious!) I don’t have a catalog, but if you tell me the kind of stuff you’re interested in, I could try to make a relevant list. There’s not much pop or rock or blues or R&B, and much of what there is is/was Carol’s, so it’s both scratched up beyond belief and probably not available anyhow.
ETA: Somebody once told me that my Zorn, Archery box is a collector’s item–worth something. Maybe some other stuff like that in there too–No idea. It’s all yours for the plucking. Takes up too much space.
I’d get rid of my books too, if I could (I prefer e-books). But that’s a bigger deal: some aren’t available digitally. I think the current count is a zillion and eight. And a bunch of those are old first editions; some even signed.
Good call – it’s a 1962 Empire 398, and has the magnetic gizmo. The plinth was somewhat corroded so I had a friend sandblast and ceracoat it. I have another one to toy with, as well as a better arm (an SME 1009 II improved).
It is counter-intuitive. My intuition was that it is the inner surface of the belt that counts as the belt rounds the small motor spindle, but that intuition is wrong. Rather, a belt with the flexibility of rubber (technically its durometer) exerts its net pulling force not from the inner surface of the belt, but from the center of a cross section of the belt…The center of a too-thick belt is further from the surface of spindle than that of a belt of proper thickness. this has an effect similar to increasing the diameter of the motor spindle itself by a significant percentage.
Put another way:
“Careful analysis of flexible drive belts will show that the effective radius of a pulley is the measurement from the center of the pulley to the neutral axis of the flexible belt (plane in the belt where stress is zero as it is curved around the pulley), which is near, but not exactly at, the center of the belt. Simply stated, the thickness of the belt factors into the calculation of the drive ratio of the pulley and platter.”
Difference being: I have and love steam heat. Anybody want to talk about their boiler? We could talk about their primary and secondary qualities, to keep it on topic.
RB:
Alan:
It’s because the effective diameters of the drive shaft and turntable are larger than their actual diameters, by 1/2 the belt thickness.
So the turntable speed is not mD/T, where m is the drive shaft RPM, D is the drive shaft diameter, and T is the turntable diameter — it’s m(D + B/2)/(T + B/2), where B is the belt thickness.
ETA: Ninja’d by RB.
Most of our house is steam, but part of it is forced hot water. It’s an ancient oil furnace, but we’ve recently added a few of those heating/cooling electrical mini-split thingies.
Not utterly out of the question that I sometime end up in that neck of the wood – my sister lives in Barnstable on the Cape.
Awesome! Please do consider stopping by!
My current TT is A Technics 12 direct drive . I use it just to digitize my collection. If I’m losing anything, I can no longer hear it.
Much better for scratching.
Ooh! Don’t tempt me! Seriously, I’ve never come across live steam as a medium of heat transfer in domestic buildings. Heard of it in municipal systems such as NY and the Soviet Union.
Makes sense!
Isn’t that – well – dangerous!
This is my favorite thread at TSZ.
That’s one of my retirement projects.
Very common in the US northeast and midwest through the 1940s or so (my home was constructed in 1918, originally with a coal boiler that is STILL THERE (but disconnected). The big disadvantage is that there is no easy way to air condition the structure.
Almost no moving parts (no fans, pumps etc.) The only moving part in my heating system is the automatic vent damper (keeps heat from escaping up the chimney when the boiler is not firing.)
Generates “fat heat,” which rises and falls slowly as the radiators condense the steam. This in contrast with the abrupt on-off of scorched air systems.
Essential to have a steam man who appreciates the Dead Plumbers and their designs.
I live in a converted print works with steam heating
My boiler is oil and I have a gas hot water heater, but in the winter–when my furnace is on– it somehow pre-heats the water before it goes into the hot water tank. I have no idea how it works, naturally, but, sadly, more than half the plumbers we’ve had here also don’t understand it. Hard to find people who really get this stuff.
My house was built in 1930.
This thread brings back memories of the astonishing array of noises that steam radiators can make.
Not entirely unlike vinyl.
It gives vinyl that secondary quality.
Glen Davidson
Almost all indications of improperly maintained, operated and modified systems that are no longer understood. Steam is quiet (no hammering, etc.) when functioning and maintained as designed.
Some boilers have an embedded coil through which water is passed for heating. Replacements are still manufactured.
Forgot to mention that our prior house had a coal bin in the basement. But it wasn’t used. Oil also.
A lot of people are converting to gas in these parts. But the conversion is so expensive that it takes quite a while for it to pay.
I’m guessing that must be New York. Night-time scenes with steam rising from manhole covers is iconic.