Condition

From The Practical Ontology & Compendium of Social Cohesion

Definition: As used herein, a Condition is an Aspect of Reality outside human Control whether Desirable or Undesirable. Commentary A Condition is in contrast to a Problem. The weather is a familiar example of a Condition. For a given Person at a certain time and place, weather Conditions, as we commonly call them, may be Desirable or Undesirable for a picnic or ski trip. Getting wet in the rain, in contrast, is a Problem humanly-solvable with an umbrella. It can be difficult to Judge the difference between a Problem and a Condition in a given case. Take epilepsy as an example of this difficulty - On the one hand, epilepsy in most cases can be well controlled with medication. That is, seizures can be entirely prevented. Seizures - Undesirable Aspects of Reality - are thus a Problem with a Solution. In rare cases, on the other hand, epilepsy cannot be well controlled with medication. The patient's occasional seizures despite medication are a Condition the patient will have to live with and probably die from by seizing while walking up or down the stairs, bathing in the bath tub, falling face-down in a mud puddle while no one is looking, etc. or in even more rare cases by going into status epilepticus when no medical personnel are around to intervene to stop the continuous seizing. Sometimes in very rare cases, despite medical intervention in the hospital with all possible resources, status epilepticus does not stop and the patient dies. But here is the point of this commentary. There are those in-between cases where it can be difficult to Judge the difference between a Problem and Condition. For example, in rare cases, the only possible Solution to prevent death from frequent seizures is surgery to remove a part of the brain. As I say, we're talking now about a possible Solution to be considered. For a happy little boy with frequent seizures as was the case with one of my grandsons, will the brain surgery work or will it just do severe brain damage? Is the case of this particular happy little boy a Condition or a Problem? My daughter and son-in-law witnessed a large committee of doctors, surgeons, nurses, philosophers and other specialists at a major university beat themselves up trying and trying to figure out the difference between a Condition and a Problem. In the end, they decided there was nothing they could do. It was a Condition. Also see Circumstances. Revised: 01-14-13

Related terms: Aspect | Desirable, Undesirable | Reality | Control



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