Combining Philosophers

Ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Joseph Levine and Trenton Merricks

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2 ideas

18. Thought / C. Content / 7. Narrow Content
The hypothesis of solipsism doesn't seem to be made incoherent by the nature of mental properties [Merricks]
     Full Idea: The hypothesis of solipsism, that I - an entity with many conscious mental properties - am all that exists, while surely false, is not rendered incoherent simply by the nature of the mental properties.
     From: Trenton Merricks (Objects and Persons [2003], §4.II)
     A reaction: This, along with the thought of a pre-Creation God, is a nice intuitive case for showing that we strongly believe in some degree of narrow content.
Before Creation it is assumed that God still had many many mental properties [Merricks]
     Full Idea: The belief of theists that God might never have created implies that there is a possible world that contains just a single entity with many conscious mental properties.
     From: Trenton Merricks (Objects and Persons [2003], §4.II)
     A reaction: So if we believe content is wide, we must believe that God was incapable of thought before creation, and thus couldn't plan creation, and so didn't create, and so the Creator is a logical impossibility. Cool.