Hi Peter, Thanks for the support. The funny thing about Dusko's mail was that he was initiating a conversation about conversations about terminology, driven by his distaste for conversations about terminology. And as it happens, I've just got back from a couple of days away from my mail, so I got all this all at once. Glad I'm not the only one who can never understand what Vaughan says... All the best, Tom On Mon, 1 Nov 2010, Peter Selinger wrote:

Hi Tom,

thanks for making this polite and thoughtful point. I can't believe the manner in which Dusko attacked you for this. With Vaughan, as usual, I have no idea what he is saying, but I think I disagree with him too.

-- Peter

Tom Leinster wrote:

...

I'm afraid I say this every time "schizophrenic" objects come up, but here I go again...

Let's not use that word.

To quote the Guardian style guide (http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/s):

schizophrenia, schizophrenic

use only in a medical context, never to mean "in two minds", contradictory, or erratic, which is wrong, as well as offensive to people diagnosed with this illness.

There is a concise summary of the history and terminology at

http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/dualizing+object

which also links to a discussion of alternatives. "Dualizing object" and "ambimorphic object" are both used.

Best wishes, Tom

On Thu, 28 Oct 2010, Fred E.J. Linton wrote:

...

On Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:14:24 AM EDT Prof. Peter Johnstone <P.T.Johnstone@dpmms.cam.ac.uk> wrote:

...

... I don't claim credit (if that's the right word) for introducing this use of "schizophrenic". I got it from ...

I wasn't aiming for an attribution of credit -- only for a citation of use of the term in the accessible literature.

Certainly I have, over the years, heard at least Isbell and Lawvere -- and others -- refer to schizophrenic objects, schizoid objects, objects with "split" -- or "multiple", or "more than one" -- personality, and the like.

How far back, "over the years"? -- Probably at least to the early 'seventies, quite possibly earlier.

Cheers, -- Fred

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