Objectivism, Rhetoric, and Ancient Egyptian Logic: Still More Questions

Abstract

It is contended that in Harvey Pegues's essay on objectivism and constructivism in the summer 2007 issue of The Educational Forum, Pegues conducted an intellectual discourse in which legitimate or good-faith disagreement was not an option, and disparaged and imputed the negative motives with which he disagreed. This article responds by pointing out the definitions and axioms used by Pegues that are vulnerable, and questions basic axioms about identity and existence from the standpoint of ancient Egyptian thought. The self-confessed nature of axioms—including those of objectivism—as incapable of proof or disproof is reiterated.

The author thanks Bruno H. Stricker for providing a copy of his monograph Zijn en Worden I (1997).

Edmund S. Meltzer formerly was Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Religion, The Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA, and Foreign Expert in Egyptology, Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China. He currently teaches World Languages at Waupaca Middle School, Waupaca, Wisconsin, and English as a Second Language in the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point's summer program.