84 ideas
22659 | It is wisdom to believe what you desire, because belief is needed to achieve it [James] |
22657 | All good philosophers start from a dumb conviction about which truths can be revealed [James] |
22647 | A complete system is just a classification of the whole world's ingredients [James] |
22648 | A single explanation must have a single point of view [James] |
9108 | From an impossibility anything follows [William of Ockham] |
22642 | Man has an intense natural interest in the consistency of his own thinking [James] |
16676 | Why use more things when fewer will do? [William of Ockham] |
6806 | Do not multiply entities beyond necessity [William of Ockham] |
22644 | Our greatest pleasure is the economy of reducing chaotic facts to one single fact [James] |
6710 | You can only define a statement that something is 'true' by referring to its functional possibilities [James] |
18986 | Truth is just a name for verification-processes [James] |
9107 | A proposition is true if its subject and predicate stand for the same thing [William of Ockham] |
18983 | In many cases there is no obvious way in which ideas can agree with their object [James] |
18972 | Ideas are true in so far as they co-ordinate our experiences [James] |
18973 | New opinions count as 'true' if they are assimilated to an individual's current beliefs [James] |
18984 | True ideas are those we can assimilate, validate, corroborate and verify (and false otherwise) [James] |
22305 | If the hypothesis of God is widely successful, it is true [James] |
16300 | Ockham had an early axiomatic account of truth [William of Ockham, by Halbach] |
9106 | The word 'every' only signifies when added to a term such as 'man', referring to all men [William of Ockham] |
9113 | Just as unity is not a property of a single thing, so numbers are not properties of many things [William of Ockham] |
9110 | The words 'thing' and 'to be' assert the same idea, as a noun and as a verb [William of Ockham] |
22641 | Realities just are, and beliefs are true of them [James] |
22649 | Classification can only ever be for a particular purpose [James] |
16608 | Ockham was an anti-realist about the categories [William of Ockham, by Pasnau] |
16654 | Our words and concepts don't always correspond to what is out there [William of Ockham] |
18529 | Relations are expressed either as absolute facts, or by a relational concept [William of Ockham] |
22132 | Species and genera are individual concepts which naturally signify many individuals [William of Ockham] |
9103 | A universal is not a real feature of objects, but only a thought-object in the mind [William of Ockham] |
15388 | Universals are single things, and only universal in what they signify [William of Ockham] |
18987 | A 'thing' is simply carved out of reality for human purposes [James] |
16779 | Cut wood doesn't make a new substance, but seems to make separate subjects [William of Ockham] |
18981 | 'Substance' is just a word for groupings and structures in experience [James] |
16757 | Hot water naturally cools down, which is due to the substantial form of the water [William of Ockham] |
16599 | Ockham says matter must be extended, so we don't need Quantity [William of Ockham, by Pasnau] |
16681 | Matter gets its quantity from condensation and rarefaction, which is just local motion [William of Ockham] |
9109 | If essence and existence were two things, one could exist without the other, which is impossible [William of Ockham] |
16792 | If parts change, the whole changes [William of Ockham] |
9089 | Knowledge is a quality existing subjectively in the soul [William of Ockham] |
9091 | Sometimes 'knowledge' just concerns the conclusion, sometimes the whole demonstration [William of Ockham] |
9100 | Our intellect only assents to what we believe to be true [William of Ockham] |
18974 | Truth is a species of good, being whatever proves itself good in the way of belief [James] |
9090 | Knowledge is certain cognition of something that is true [William of Ockham] |
18989 | Pragmatism accepts any hypothesis which has useful consequences [James] |
22640 | We find satisfaction in consistency of all of our beliefs, perceptions and mental connections [James] |
22655 | Scientific genius extracts more than other people from the same evidence [James] |
22658 | Experimenters assume the theory is true, and stick to it as long as result don't disappoint [James] |
18971 | Theories are practical tools for progress, not answers to enigmas [James] |
18985 | True thoughts are just valuable instruments of action [James] |
18982 | Pragmatism says all theories are instrumental - that is, mental modes of adaptation to reality [James] |
22654 | We can't know if the laws of nature are stable, but we must postulate it or assume it [James] |
22656 | Trying to assess probabilities by mere calculation is absurd and impossible [James] |
22646 | We have a passion for knowing the parts of something, rather than the whole [James] |
15710 | Bohr explained the periodic table and chemical properties of elements, using the quantum atom [Kumar] |
22652 | The mind has evolved entirely for practical interests, seen in our reflex actions [James] |
22651 | Dogs' curiosity only concerns what will happen next [James] |
9286 | Consciousness is not a stuff, but is explained by the relations between experiences [James] |
9101 | Abstractive cognition knows universals abstracted from many singulars [William of Ockham] |
9102 | If an animal approached from a distance, we might abstract 'animal' from one instance [William of Ockham] |
9114 | There are no secure foundations to prove the separate existence of mind, in reason or experience [William of Ockham] |
9285 | 'Consciousness' is a nonentity, a mere echo of the disappearing 'soul' [James] |
23981 | Rage is inconceivable without bodily responses; so there are no disembodied emotions [James] |
22650 | How can the ground of rationality be itself rational? [James] |
22643 | It seems that we feel rational when we detect no irrationality [James] |
18975 | We return to experience with concepts, where they show us differences [James] |
9104 | A universal is the result of abstraction, which is only a kind of mental picturing [William of Ockham] |
9105 | Some concepts for propositions exist only in the mind, and in no language [William of Ockham] |
22660 | Evolution suggests prevailing or survival as a new criterion of right and wrong [James] |
6570 | Imagine millions made happy on condition that one person suffers endless lonely torture [James] |
16675 | Every extended material substance is composed of parts distant from one another [William of Ockham] |
22645 | Understanding by means of causes is useless if they are not reduced to a minimum number [James] |
19381 | The past has ceased to exist, and the future does not yet exist, so time does not exist [William of Ockham] |
9111 | God is not wise, but more-than-wise; God is not good, but more-than-good [William of Ockham] |
18980 | If there is a 'greatest knower', it doesn't follow that they know absolutely everything [James] |
18978 | It is hard to grasp a cosmic mind which produces such a mixture of goods and evils [James] |
8010 | William of Ockham is the main spokesman for God's commands being the source of morality [William of Ockham] |
18991 | If the God hypothesis works well, then it is true [James] |
18977 | The wonderful design of a woodpecker looks diabolical to its victims [James] |
18979 | Things with parts always have some structure, so they always appear to be designed [James] |
18976 | Private experience is the main evidence for God [James] |
9112 | We could never form a concept of God's wisdom if we couldn't abstract it from creatures [William of Ockham] |
9115 | To love God means to love whatever God wills to be loved [William of Ockham] |
22653 | Early Christianity says God recognises the neglected weak and tender impulses [James] |
16679 | Even an angel must have some location [William of Ockham, by Pasnau] |
18990 | Nirvana means safety from sense experience, and hindus and buddhists are just afraid of life [James] |