TLS signed “Love, Phil,” adding a heart with arrow, three pages, 8.5 x 11, February 14, 1981. Lengthy philosophical letter to science fiction author Patricia Warrick, in part: "I have now got an ingenious way of explaining how the universals—Plato's Forms—are apprehended; I know exactly what the process is that the brain goes through: what material it receives and handles and how it handles it; i.e. what correct inference it draws. The percept-system (that is, the senses) reports to the brain the following: The same thing exists at two places and two times. That is, one object is seen twice. Think of it this way: you are driving along a road. You see a certain tree, which we will call Tree X. You continue on along the road for some time. Then, to your amazement, you see Tree X again. What is crucial is that you recognize it. You do not merely identify it as Tree X; you recognize it. What does seeing Tree X again tell you? It tells you that you are driving around in a closed loop. You have passed the same spot twice, without realizing it until you saw Tree X again. But suppose that the first time that you saw Tree X it was alone in a grassy pasture. Only this time Tree X is growing close beside a filling station. There is no pasture, no grass. That which surrounds Tree X is not the same. Yet you are not mistaken; it is indeed Tree X, the same tree you saw before. What are you to make of this? The same tree—Tree X—exists at two places simultaneously. This is clearly impossible, and yet your brain knows that it has not erred; it has not confused Tree X with a tree that resembles it; no: it is Tree X both times. The brain will then perform what I call a 'meta-abstraction.' It is upon this meta-abstraction that the conception of universals in the sense of Platonic Forms is based. The brain has, during its entire lifetime, made analogous lower-grade abstractions, so this is not the first time that the brain has had to grapple with such problems." He goes on to offer further examples and build upon these thoughts. In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope.
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