Re: virus: maxims and ground rules

Richard Aynesworthy (overload@fastmail.ca)
Mon, 10 May 1999 10:02:46 -0400 (EDT)

...might I suggest

Main Entry: ax·i·om
Pronunciation: 'ak-sE-&m
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin axioma, from Greek axiOma, literally, something worthy, from axioun to think worthy, from axios worth, worthy; akin to Greek agein to weigh, drive -- more at AGENT Date: 15th century
1 : a maxim widely accepted on its intrinsic merit 2 : a statement accepted as true as the basis for argument or inference : POSTULATE 1
3 : an established rule or principle or a self-evident truth

Main Entry: 2pos·tu·late
Pronunciation: 'päs-ch&-l&t, -"lAt
Function: noun
Etymology: Medieval Latin postulatum, from neuter of postulatus, past participle of postulare to assume, from Latin, to demand Date: 1646
1 : a hypothesis advanced as an essential presupposition, condition, or premise of a train of reasoning
2 : AXIOM 3

>
> Tim Rhodes wrote:
> 

>> On Sun, 9 May 1999, KMO wrote:
>>
>> > [...] we don't have to use maxims to create the proposed
>> > framework, so I'm certainly not wedded to idea that our

> initial common ground > > has to be stated as a set of maxims
>>
>> Then why not call them "slogans" or "talking points" or "strange

> attractors" > or some other term more specific to the task, rather
> than simply consistant > with the rhetoric.
>
> Of those three, I like "talking points" best and "slogans" least,
> but I'd go with any of them if folks are getting hung up on the
> idea that maxims have to be true and that one of our proposed
> maxims is that there is no truth that isn't dependent on some
> specific framework and agenda.
>
> -KMO

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