(I answer this question, because the discussion of color in the prior post was hopeless from a communication standpoint.)
Consider a simple device, consisting of a chamber containing a measured amount of mercury and a very narrow tube rising from this chamber. As the temperature of the mercury changes, the volume changes as a simple function (roughly linear, but more importantly monotonically). (As the mercury is highly thermally conductive, this temperature is roughly uniform.) This change in volume causes a small amount of the mercury to expand into the narrow tube—the precise amount linearly proportional to the change in volume. It is mathematically clear, therefore, that the height of mercury in the tube is a monotonic function of the temperature of the mercury. The net result of creating this device is a stable, predictable, reliable correlation in the universe between two things—and the tube, therefore, can be marked at intervals (the first thing) corresponding to particular temperatures (the second thing).
We call this a thermometer, of course. And when the mercury is next to the “76” label on the thermometer, we say that this means that the temperature is 76 degrees.
Does this make sense? It would be useful to know whether this sounds like a “wretched subterfuge”, as Kant called compatibilist theories of free will.
(I answer this question, because the discussion of color in the prior post was hopeless from a communication standpoint.)
Consider a simple device, consisting of a chamber containing a measured amount of mercury and a very narrow tube rising from this chamber. As the temperature of the mercury changes, the volume changes as a simple function (roughly linear, but more importantly monotonically). (As the mercury is highly thermally conductive, this temperature is roughly uniform.) This change in volume causes a small amount of the mercury to expand into the narrow tube—the precise amount linearly proportional to the change in volume. It is mathematically clear, therefore, that the height of mercury in the tube is a monotonic function of the temperature of the mercury. The net result of creating this device is a stable, predictable, reliable correlation in the universe between two things—and the tube, therefore, can be marked at intervals (the first thing) corresponding to particular temperatures (the second thing).
We call this a thermometer, of course. And when the mercury is next to the “76” label on the thermometer, we say that this means that the temperature is 76 degrees.
Does this make sense? It would be useful to know whether this sounds like a “wretched subterfuge”, as Kant called compatibilist theories of free will.
Just to play with the idea: is cricket chirping about the temperature in Fahrenheit?
Let us be precise: the frequency of cricket chirping is reliably correlated with the temperature in Fahrenheit—to be specific, the Fahrenheit temperature is approximately the number of chirps in 13 seconds plus 40 - and therefore a particular frequency of cricket chirping means a particular temperature.
The cricket chirping itself usually means other things.