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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hi, Everybody, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Yes. St. Johns Coffee Shop WILL be open this Friday. And then, not again until the 3<sup>rd</sup> of January. I am hoping Frank will have some ideas for what we do on the Friday between the two holidays. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Attached please find the copy of an article you helped me write. Thanks to all of you who listened patiently and probed insistently as I worked though the issues of this piece. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I need help with another article I am working with. Last week I found myself making, and defending against your uproarious laughter, the proposition that all real things are abstract. Some of you were prepared to declare the opposite, No real things are abstract. However, it was late in the morning and the argument never developed. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I would argue the point in the following way: Let us say that we go along with your objections and agree that “you can never step in the same river twice.” This is to say, that what we call “The River” changes every time we step in it. Wouldn’t it follow that any conversation we might have about The River is precluded? We could not argue, for instance, about whether the river is so deep that we cannot cross o’er because there is no abstract fact, “The River” that connects my crossing with yours. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Let’s say, then, that you agree with me that implicit in our discussions of the river is the abstract conception of The River. But, you object, that we assume it, does not make it true. Fair enough. But why then, do we engage in the measurement of anything? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I realize this is not everybody’s cup of tea for a conversation, but I wanted to put it on the table. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nick <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nicholas S. Thompson<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Clark University<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/">http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>