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Well, I tried to make it as simple as possible, Cracker, but you still missed the point !! "Apples and rainbows", remember?
In my long and varied history of doubting, there is only one proposition which has defeated my ability to doubt: it is the first proposition of Proclus' Elements of Theology :
"Every manifold in some way participates the One."
Without getting into the technical meaning of "participates", the argument can be put into modern terminology by saying that without some form of unity in the manifold, the manifold would not be a manifold, but would disintegrate into a Borel Set -- which John Wheeler picturesquely described as "a bucket of dust." That is, the supposed manifold would disintegrate into unendingly infinitesimal fragments. It is a very clever reductio ad absurdum, particularly for the time period of Proclus, about 450 A.D. If you can come up with a really good argument demolishing Proclus, I will admit that you are a better sceptic than I, but not before. It may not be the last word in philosophy, but if anything exists, then it is true.
It's about the closest to a firm initial axiom that I have come across.
The Neo-Platonists: great stuff. But you won't get anywhere with them if you don't understand their vocabulary.
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