Richard wrote:
What's the charter for this list? I'd seen people posting to it occasionally, but I don't know what the subject area or target audience is supposed to be.
Mary Tupper (Xylen) was the originator of the Philofractal List. (It has been many years since she last posted.) The following was taken from a discussion about the Charter back during the latter part of January, 1999: Gedeon Peteri wrote:
I joined this list because my curiosity was aroused. Since "promoting agendas" and, conversely, "debunking" those of other's, as well as engaging in argumentation, belong to the essence of philosophy, I was wondering what will be accomplished here if such activities are prohibited by the charter.
Yes, you are right Gedeon. Technically "promoting agendas", "debunking", and "argumentation" are all part of philosophy, but I don't want people to get overly emotional and angry about the posts. I prefer the term 'discussion' to 'arguing' because arguing has angry emotional connotations. By restricting "promoting agendas" I am referring to people who will post statements like "Concept X is the only true way, and anybody who doesn't believe in X is a fool." As long as people are willing to discuss both the pro's and cons of a concept, there is no problem. Similarly with "debunking": "As long as you believe in Concept X, you are the fool" contribute nothing to a discussion. The whole point of this list is promote discussion and logical arguments about fractal philosophy. Since this group can spend months discussing the rules for a contest, ;) I'm sure there will be much discussion on this matter as well. Xylen Sincerely, P.N.L. ------------------------------------------------- http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/PNL_Fractals.html http://www.Nahee.com/Fractals/