christopher, don't get me wrong, i totally know what you are going on about,,,,but.

contextually,,,,,everything (is) or could be, relative.

look at this situation. murder one points a gun at my eye and says, "is 2+ 2, 5?" I say, "no". murder x points the gun a way and fires off a shot. he points the gun back at me and says "say 2 + 2 =5 and believe it, or ill blow the back of your brain out of your skull."

At this point I would have the ability to change my perception of 2 and make it 3 or whatever, and believe it to be so, well, that is unless I didn't value my life whatsoever.

everything is relative because everything is a symbol that you learned so you could and can express your ability to reason to others, and at the very least, for your own well being. 2 is a symbol. that sentence i just wrote is a symbol. our communication here is based upons symbols. me waving my hand is a symbol. im hungry, better eat with my hand, symbol, function, life as a human, and da.

if i had learned that 2 + 2 =5 all along, that would make it more legitimate for me no matter how many times someone tried to tell, teach, or show me that 2 +2 =4. mainly because of repetition and reinforcement.

your idea of legitimate is not always right, and mine isn't either. im not talking right as in broad truth known by all or most. im talking right as in my own mind knowing whatever we are talking about to be right.

if i can't see the world move, and no one had ever told me that it did and does, and i had never been taught in some way or read a book to tell me that a was a and b was b and 2 was 2 and 3 was 3, then how would i know any of this? does a blind mute from birth know the world moves?

but still that same blind mute has reasoning and realitve understanding of the world around him all his own.

you can only infer because you lerned that or had that ability imbeded into you at one time. if i put my hand on a hot stove. **** that is hot. but if i walk, i don't usually think, the world is moving and im not.

everything is relative, and like i said all along

DEDUCTIVE REASONING DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK!