thought vs. thought
Domain: metaphysics
Canonical Formulation: ?
Possible Formulation:
We can explicate this best with a thought experiment. Suppose we
make a statement to a group of five people such as "George
Washington was the first President of the United States of America."
These five people presumably hear and comprehend the statement. If
it is then asked of them that they alll think the statement that has
just been spoken to them at the same time, perhaps when I say "Go!"
then how many thoughts were thought?
Answer #1: Though five people thought the same thought that which
was thought was the same and hence there is really only one thought.
Each persons thought is comprised of the same content. They all
have the same thought.
Answer #2: The five people may be thinking in temporal unity, but
it is impossible that they have spatial unity. The people
themselves are simply located at different places in space. Thus,
the five people each had seperate thoughts so there were five
thoughts in all.
Answer #3: How do you count thoughts? Thoughts are uncountable.
Just because the the question, "How many thoughts were there?"
seems like a well formed interrogatory doesn't meant the there is an
answer. How do you square a circle?
Classical Challenge: ?