Thursday, April 20, 2006

Coconut

4 comments:

MT said...

There are many who would argue vociferously that a coconut is not a fruit. It so happens that I am not one of them. So where are you, guys?

helmut said...

This does present a dilemma I am now facing as I run out of fruit photos to post. To wit, since vegetables and nuts are sometimes referred to in general terms as the "fruit" of a particular plant or tree, can I post pictures of them?

MT said...

That's something only your conscience can tell you. Maybe with a little help from Kant. Come now, man, you're the philosopher! Wait....No, don't tell me you're one of those fructorelativists!

helmut said...

I think the crucial distinction is that fruits have to do with the reproductive part of plants and vegetables have to do with keeping the existing plant alive. Since nuts are reproductive rather than vegetative, they count as fruits. The coconut, whether "fruit" or "nut," is therefore a fruit in the sense of the distinction between fruits and vegetables.

Or at least that's what the transcendental dialectic teaches me.