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walt fristoe
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2003 : 11:30:56
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I find myself a bit perplexed concerning a specific concept.
The term abstract means, according to The Random House Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary: 1.thought of apart from concrete realities,
specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea.
The term concrete means, according to the same source:
1. constituting an actual thing or instance; real; perceptible;
substantial: concrete proof.
Now, my question is this: is a rainbow abstract or concrete? It is perceptible, but there isn't really anything there. So it doesn't seem entirely concrete, and yet it doesn' seem entirely abstract
either.
Can anyone help me out here?
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"If God chose George Bus of all the people in the world, how good could God be?"
Bill Maher |
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TG
Skeptic Friend
USA
121 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2003 : 12:49:00 [Permalink]
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| There is something there ... water vapor, a light source, and an observer in the proper location ... a rainbow is concrete. The phenomenon is well understood and can be duplicated in the laboratory. |
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PhDreamer
SFN Regular
USA
925 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2003 : 13:33:45 [Permalink]
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| It's not the case that a rainbow is nothing. It's made up of photons, just like all "things" we see. The phenomenon of seeing the rainbow in a particular location is a trick of perception, rather than an actual hybrid of abstract and concrete things. The sunlight itself is filtered through the various layers of the atmosphere, one of which is the trophosphere wherein many weather phenomena have their origins. The light you see is already altered light; passing through water refracts light and alters the wavelengths slightly. |
I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery.
-Agent Smith |
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walt fristoe
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2003 : 18:27:19 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by PhDreamer
It's not the case that a rainbow is nothing. It's made up of photons, just like all "things" we see. The phenomenon of seeing the rainbow in a particular location is a trick of perception, rather than an actual hybrid of abstract and concrete things. The sunlight itself is filtered through the various layers of the atmosphere, one of which is the trophosphere wherein many weather phenomena have their origins. The light you see is already altered light; passing through water refracts light and alters the wavelengths slightly.
Thanks TG and PhD! You've cleared up my confusion, just as I'de hoped you would!
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"If God chose George Bus of all the people in the world, how good could God be?"
Bill Maher |
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