Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Carl Ginet, Nancy Cartwright and Sextus Empiricus

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4 ideas

27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / a. Explaining movement
Does the original self-mover push itself from behind, or pull itself from in front? [Sext.Empiricus]
     Full Idea: Self-movement must move in some particular direction, but if it pushes it will be behind itself, and if it pulls it will be in front of itself.
     From: Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism [c.180], III.68)
     A reaction: This is the same as Aquinas's First Way of proving God's existence.
If time and place are infinitely divided, it becomes impossible for movement ever to begin [Sext.Empiricus]
     Full Idea: If bodies, and the places and times when they are said to move, are divided into infinity, motion will not occur, it being impossible to find anything which will initiate the first movement.
     From: Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism [c.180], III.76)
If all atoms, times and places are the same, everything should move with equal velocity [Sext.Empiricus]
     Full Idea: If objects are reducible to atoms, and each thing passes in an atomic time with its own first atom into an atomic point of space, then all moving things are of equal velocity.
     From: Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism [c.180], III.77)
A man walking backwards on a forwards-moving ship is moving in a fixed place [Sext.Empiricus]
     Full Idea: If a ship moves forward and a man carries a rod backwards on it, then it is possible for an object to move without quitting its place.
     From: Sextus Empiricus (Against the Physicists (two books) [c.180], II.056)
     A reaction: [summary of a verbose paragraph] The point is that you cannot define movement as change of place (contrary to Russell's proposal!). The concept of a place seems to be relative. Walking on a treadmill.