Combining Philosophers

Ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Plotinus and Albert Camus

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3 ideas

16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 2. Mental Continuity / b. Self as mental continuity
A person is the whole of their soul [Plotinus]
     Full Idea: Man is not merely a part (the higher part) of the Soul but the total.
     From: Plotinus (The Enneads [c.245], 5.1.12)
     A reaction: The soul is psuche, which includes the vegetative soul. The higher part is normally taken to be reason. This seems pretty close to John Locke's view of the matter.
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 1. Nature of Free Will
Whether we are free is uninteresting; we can only experience our freedom [Camus]
     Full Idea: Knowing whether or not a man is free doesn't interest me. I can only experience my own freedom.
     From: Albert Camus (The Myth of Sisyphus [1942], 'Abs free')
     A reaction: Camus has the right idea. Personally I think you could drop the word 'freedom', and just say that I am confronted by the need to make decisions.
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 6. Determinism / b. Fate
The human heart has a tiresome tendency to label as fate only what crushes it [Camus]
     Full Idea: The human heart has a tiresome tendency to label as fate only what crushes it.
     From: Albert Camus (The Myth of Sisyphus [1942], 'Appendix')
     A reaction: Nice. It might just as much be fate that you live a happy bourgeois life, as that you inadvertently murder your own father at a crossroads. But you can't avoid the powerful awareness of fate when a road accident occurs.