[Glorantha] Re: One last hair...

Trotsky:

Me:
> >Everything with discrete (material or immaterial)
> >> existence is a _being_ ; everything with its own
> >> soul, essence, or spirit is an _entity_.
> >
> >
> >
> >Right.... you know, this list needs a permanent
> >glossary somewhere. That's a great definition, with
> >good examples (snipped), and a useful distinction to
> >make.
> >
> >And it also means that almost anything I'd normally
> >refer to as an entity (I design databases for a
> >living) is, in your terms, a being
> >
> FWIW, the Concise OED gives almost the exact opposite definitions for
> the two words that Julian does (it says an entity is any thing with
> discrete existence, while a being is any individual living thing), so I
> suspect it would be unwise to extend the definitions being used here
> beyond this particular discussion :)

Oh yeah, the Gloranthan context certainly does change things, doesn't it... :)

It would be just as unwise to use the metaphysics in this discussion in RW philosophical
analysis...

Clearly, there are some Gloranthan beings that would be neither living nor individuals, according to the usual definnitions of those words. And the word "entitity" has mainly been used by
Greg in the non-standard way I've more or less decribed.

Also --- and this is interesting for me personally --- I've had a French Education mainly, and the
words (and especially the concepts behind them) have the opposite meaning in the two languages, and especially in the two cultural points of view --- which sort of helps prove the point, that finite concepts cannot be used to describe or even understand the Infinite.

Although of course, we need such terms simply as a means of describing and understanding the game world... :)

Julian Lord Received on Wed 05 Apr 2006 - 08:16:49 EEST