<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title></title><style type="text/css">p.MsoNormal,p.MsoNoSpacing{margin:0}</style></head><body><div style="font-family:Arial;">I will agree, mostly, with your abductions. However,<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">We have different conceptions of harm. Dusty growls at other dogs who come to me at the dog park. Maybe to 'protect' me, maybe from 'jealousy'. Dusty does not recognize the leash as protection from harm.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">Mutual attending is definitely true and, for me, the proper foundation for inferring the meta-state of love.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">Separation is an anxiety for Dusty and entails more than absence; e.g., where's my dinner. Separation does not cause anxiety for me, but definitely a "longing" and an awareness of the absence.<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">helpful?<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;">davew<br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div><div>On Fri, Jul 12, 2024, at 12:19 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:<br></div><blockquote type="cite" id="qt" style=""><div dir="ltr"><div>Oh, and. do you now agree that the relation is loving, or, what additional coditions would you care to add to make that attribution a comfortable one for you.<br></div><div><br></div><div>N<br></div></div><div><br></div><div class="qt-gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="qt-gmail_attr">On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 12:59 PM Nicholas Thompson <<a href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="qt-gmail_quote" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204, 204, 204);padding-left:1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><div>[Please, Friammers,, if you join this discussion, stay close to this or other closely related down-to-earth experiences.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Dave, you offer as data:<br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><b><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;">Dave is sleepy and calm.</span></b></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><b><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;">Dusty is anxious and afraid.</span></b></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><b><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;">Dusty crawls onto Dave's shoulder and finds reassurance and security.</span></b></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><b><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;">Dave is tolerant and does not shove Dusty off bed.</span></b></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><b><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;">Dave senses Dusty's need for reassurance and rests his arm across her back and lets her stay as she is.</span></b></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><b><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;">Dusty relaxes and goes to sleep.</span></b></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><b><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;"></span></b></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;">You then offer the following guide to interpretation:</span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><i><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;"><b>Love is not present in this transaction, unless you presume that a
series of prior interactions created a kind of meta-state of Lovingness
between the two</b></span></i><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;">I agree with you that love is a meta state in the sense that it is an arrangement of other behavioral states. So I will leave that alone. Having so stipulated, I think it is reasonable to say, on the basis of the data you set forth, that a meta-state of lovingness exists between you. (I would prefer to say you love one another, but partly in deference to SG, I will adopt your lingo.] To call your joint behavior loving is to perform an abduction. The test of an abduction is to examine the deductions that flow from it: </span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;">So, if Dave and Dusty have a loving relationship, then, on my understanding, the following would be true:</span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;"><i><b>You would protect one another against harm.</b></i></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;"><i><b>You would attend to one another if either was sick, injured, or depressed.</b></i></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;"><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;"><i><b>You would become uneasy if you were separated for an unexpectedly long time.</b></i></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;">Are these things true?</span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;">Nick</span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px;"></span><br></div><div style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:40px;text-align:left;"><i><span class="size" style="font-size:10px;"><b></b></span></i><br></div></div></div></blockquote></div></blockquote><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div></body></html>