Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Antoine Arnauld, Ludwig Feuerbach and David Robb

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6 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / a. Nature of Being
Absolute thought remains in another world from being [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: Absolute thought never extricates itself from itself to become being. Being remains in another world. …If being is to be added to an object of thought, so must something distinct from thought be added to thought itself.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Principles of Philosophy of the Future [1843], §24/5)
     A reaction: This sounds a bit like a child wishing for the moon. Is he saying he doesn't just want to think about reality - he wants his mental states to BE external reality? The distinction between a thought and its content or intentionality would help here.
Being is what is undetermined, and hence indistinguishable [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: Being in the sense in which it is an object of speculative thought is that which is purely and simply unmediated, that is, undetermined; in other words, there is nothing to distinguish and nothing to think of in being.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Principles of Philosophy of the Future [1843], 26)
     A reaction: This sounds remarkably like the idea of 'prime matter' used in scholastic Aristotelian philosophy. Matter existing without form is somehow ungraspable, but presented from Hegel onwards as the ultimate mystery.
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / f. Primary being
Being posits essence, and my essence is my being [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: Being is the positing of essence. That which is my essence is my being. The fish exists in water; you cannot, however, separate its essence from this being.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Principles of Philosophy of the Future [1843], §27)
     A reaction: This throws a different light on later (e.g. Heidegger) discussions of 'being', which may map onto Aristotelian discussions of essences.
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / g. Particular being
Particularity belongs to being, whereas generality belongs to thought [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: Particularity and individuality belong to being, whereas generality belongs to thought.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Principles of Philosophy of the Future [1843], §29)
     A reaction: This agrees with Russell's view that every sentence (and proposition) must contain a universal (i.e a generality). The very notion of thinking 'about' a horse seems to require a move to the universal concept of a horse.
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / h. Dasein (being human)
The only true being is of the senses, perception, feeling and love [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: Being as an object of being - and only this being is being and deserves the name of being - is the being of the senses, perception, feeling, and love. …Only passion is the hallmark of existence.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Principles of Philosophy of the Future [1843], §33)
     A reaction: This remark seems to make Feuerbach a romantic and anti-Enlightenment figure. I don't see why there shouldn't be just as much 'being' in doing maths as in admiring a landscape. The mention of love links him to Empedocles (Ideas 459 + 630).
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / e. Ontological commitment problems
To our consciousness it is language which looks unreal [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: To sensuous consciousness it is precisely language that is unreal, nothing.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy [1839], p.77)
     A reaction: Offered as a corrective to the view that our ontological commitments entirely concern what we are willing to say.