Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Anaxarchus, Thomas Hobbes and Adam Smith

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3 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / a. Nature of Being
Only supernatural means could annihilate anything once it had being [Hobbes]
     Full Idea: A being cannot naturally go out of existence. For even if a ship or a plank ceases to be a ship or a plank, it never naturally ceases to be a being. For a being, unless it is annihilated, does not cease to be a being. To annihilate is a supernatural task.
     From: Thomas Hobbes (De Mundo (On the World) [1642], 12.5)
     A reaction: This idea was becoming an orthodoxy in Hobbes's time, and leads to the various conservation laws in physics.
7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 1. Nature of Change
Change is nothing but movement [Hobbes]
     Full Idea: All mutation consists in motion only
     From: Thomas Hobbes (De Corpore (Elements, First Section) [1655], 2.09.06)
     A reaction: Another little gem of simplicity from Hobbes, and one with which I am inclined to agree. The value of a variable can 'change', but that may be metaphorical.
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 6. Physicalism
Every part of the universe is body, and non-body is not part of it [Hobbes]
     Full Idea: The world is corporeal, that is to say, body...and every part of the universe is body, and that which is not body is no part of the universe.
     From: Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], IV.46)
     A reaction: [Hobbes concedes existence to visible spirits, but not invisible ones]. This is the kind of remark which got Hobbes hated. It is also the sort of thing that makes him the best candidate for the 'first modern man'.