Shape

94 I What Makes It Visual?
The letters A and E and the arithmetic symbol þ are all like Y. They aren’t discrete with
respect to themselves
But Goodman uses A and E, so I guess they work. Surely, he knows how his standard
goes. It always helps to check with an authority when seeing is confused. This is a reliable
way to clear things up. But my square and triangles
are OK, whatever the fine points. They’re relatively discrete, and because they’re
polygons, they don’t have the problem that Y has. Endpoints are shared. Lines don’t
dangle—they can’t be cut little by little at their ends. Still, there are difficulties with
the shapes
They aren’t numerically distinct. Relative discreteness doesn’t go far enough. I guess
that’s it for weaker standards. And in fact with my standard
is just that—A and E.