“Given that we know Pluto’s orbit and shape and mass, there is no question left to ask.”
I’m sure it’s completely missing the point, but there was at least one question left to ask, which turned out to be critical in this debate, i.e. “has it cleared its neighboring region of other objects?”
More broadly I feel the post just demonstrates that sometimes we argue, not necessarily in a very productive way, over the definition, the defining characteristics, the exact borders, of a concept. I am reminded of the famous quip “The job of philosophers is first to create words and then argue with each other about their meaning.” But again—surely missing something…
I’m sure it’s completely missing the point, but there was at least one question left to ask, which turned out to be critical in this debate, i.e. “has it cleared its neighboring region of other objects?”
More broadly I feel the post just demonstrates that sometimes we argue, not necessarily in a very productive way, over the definition, the defining characteristics, the exact borders, of a concept. I am reminded of the famous quip “The job of philosophers is first to create words and then argue with each other about their meaning.” But again—surely missing something…