Where would be we without the benevolence of the Coca-Cola company, giving us the big fat old man with a (coke-can) red suit and funny white beard?
http://www.thecoca-
colacompany.c...lore_santa.html
Great post, but I'm not sure it represents the first constructivist explanation for Santa Claus. For a similar argument, see Church 1897.
Ah yes, the classic Church contribution: a landmark in the field of Santa studies. But the argument there seems to follow two slightly different lines:
1) the argument from desirability: there ought to be a Santa, therefore there is one. Perfectly acceptable in late nineteenth-century logic, but effectively demolished by the "if wishes were horses" counterclaim early in the 20th century -- a counterclaim also known as the Kellogg-Briand Pact postulate.
2) the argument from negation: there is no definitive evidence that Santa does not exist, ergo Santa exists. Also known in some IR circles as the "critical patriotism" argument: just because no one has ever been able to pull off the trick of questioning the fundamental direction of their country's foreign policy without having their loyalty impugned does not mean that such a stance does not exist. The problem, of course, is that once we permit this kind of reasoning, we are honor-bound to admit the concrete existence of a variety of other mythical entities, like the "rational actor" and the "flying pig." The positive constructionist argument, which relies on actual evidence in order to infer existence, strikes most logicians as a better way to go.
Of course the other thing that this post shows is the fact that you can sub "Kellog-Briand Pact" for "Santa Clause" and still retain a very plausible and convincing argument should really say something about that which we do....
For more (and equally intellectual) laughs on the topic of Santa, see the almost 20-year-old satire in The Nation magazine about the authorship controversy surrounding "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (a/k/a "Twas the Night Before Christmas"):
Richard Lingeman and Thomas Disch, "St. Nicholas: A Textual Scandal," The Nation, January 2, 1989. Available for purchase at www.thenation.com; maybe available for free elsewhere on the
Internet.
PTJ: thanks for illuminating the distinctions. The more I read it, the more convinced I am that Church is also wedded to critical realism. Hence his obsession with deep, unobservable, processes and mechanism, e.g., fairies.
I know Santa exists because I am one.
Really
If one believes in hypertext transfer protocols, transmission control protocol/internet protocol, and hypertext markup language, why can’t one believe in Santa Clause?
After all the first ones deliver the Duck of Minerva every day, but Santa brings gifts once a year.
I grok it.
Even though I'm a statistician, I don't like the uber-quantitative argument that purports to show that Santa Claus doesn't exist.
I recently reviewed some proofs of Santa's existence. I think the matter has been definitively settled.
hi im 10 years old thanks for the advice
i rad it all good idea
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