Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Anaxarchus, Wolfgang von Goethe and Paul Thagard

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21 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 6. Coherence
Coherence problems have positive and negative restraints; solutions maximise constraint satisfaction [Thagard]
     Full Idea: A coherence problem is a set of elements connected by positive and negative restraints, and a solution consists of partitioning the elements into two sets (accepted and rejected) in a way that maximises satisfaction of the constraints.
     From: Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.42)
     A reaction: I'm enthusiastic about this, as it begins to clarify the central activity of epistemology, which is the quest for best explanations.
Coherence is explanatory, deductive, conceptual, analogical, perceptual, and deliberative [Thagard]
     Full Idea: I propose that there are six main kinds of coherence: explanatory, deductive, conceptual, analogical, perceptual, and deliberative. ...Epistemic coherence is a combination of the first five kinds, and ethics adds the sixth.
     From: Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.43)
     A reaction: Wonderful. Someone is getting to grips with the concept of coherence, instead of just whingeing about how vague it is.
Explanatory coherence needs symmetry,explanation,analogy,data priority, contradiction,competition,acceptance [Thagard]
     Full Idea: Informally, a theory of explanatory coherence has the principles of symmetry, explanation, analogy, data priority, contradiction, competition and acceptance.
     From: Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.44)
     A reaction: [Thagard give a concise summary of his theory here] Again Thagard makes a wonderful contribution in an area where most thinkers are pessimistic about making any progress. His principles are very plausible.
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 6. Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude comes from including more phenomena, and revealing what underlies [Thagard]
     Full Idea: A scientific theory is progressively approximating the truth if it increases its explanatory coherence by broadening to more phenomena and deepening by investigating layers of mechanisms.
     From: Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.46)
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique
Many people imagine that to experience is to understand [Goethe]
     Full Idea: There are many people who imagine that what they experience they also understand.
     From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 889)
     A reaction: This should be posted over the arrivals gate of every international airport, for returning holiday-makers. It seems to place Goethe on the rationalist side of the debate with empiricism. It is hard to explain 'understanding' in Humean terms.
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 1. Scepticism
Anaxarchus said that he was not even sure that he knew nothing [Anaxarchus, by Diog. Laertius]
     Full Idea: Anaxarchus said that he was not even sure that he knew nothing.
     From: report of Anaxarchus (fragments/reports [c.340 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.10.1
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 3. Subjectivism
Man never understands how anthropomorphic he is [Goethe]
     Full Idea: Man never understands how anthropomorphic he is.
     From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 203)
     A reaction: Nice. It is true, even when it is pointed out to us. No matter how hard we try to realise how very different animals are from us, we can't help identifying with them. Religious people even do it with inanimate creation.
14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 1. Scientific Theory
Neither a priori rationalism nor sense data empiricism account for scientific knowledge [Thagard]
     Full Idea: Both rationalists (who start with a priori truths and make deductions) and empiricists (starting with indubitable sense data and what follows) would guarantee truth, but neither even begins to account for scientific knowledge.
     From: Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.46)
     A reaction: Thagard's answer, and mine, is inference to the best explanation, but goes beyond both the a priori truths and the perceptions.
14. Science / C. Induction / 6. Bayes's Theorem
Bayesian inference is forced to rely on approximations [Thagard]
     Full Idea: It is well known that the general problem with Bayesian inference is that it is computationally intractable, so the algorithms used for computing posterior probabilities have to be approximations.
     From: Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.45)
     A reaction: Thagard makes this sound devastating, but then concedes that all theories have to rely on approximations, so I haven't quite grasped this idea. He gives references.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / c. Explanations by coherence
2: An explanation must wholly cohere internally, and with the new fact [Thagard, by Smart]
     Full Idea: 2: If a set of propositions explains a further proposition, then each proposition in the set coheres with that proposition, and propositions in the set cohere pairwise with one another.
     From: report of Paul Thagard (Explanatory Coherence [1989], 2) by J.J.C. Smart - Explanation - Opening Address p.04
3: If an analogous pair explain another analogous pair, then they all cohere [Thagard, by Smart]
     Full Idea: 3: If two analogous propositions separately explain different ones of a further pair of analogous propositions, then the first pair cohere with one another, and so do the second (explananda) pair.
     From: report of Paul Thagard (Explanatory Coherence [1989], 3) by J.J.C. Smart - Explanation - Opening Address p.04
1: Coherence is a symmetrical relation between two propositions [Thagard, by Smart]
     Full Idea: 1: Coherence and incoherence are symmetrical between pairs of propositions.
     From: report of Paul Thagard (Explanatory Coherence [1989], 1) by J.J.C. Smart - Explanation - Opening Address p.04
4: For coherence, observation reports have a degree of intrinsic acceptability [Thagard, by Smart]
     Full Idea: 4: Observation reports (for coherence) have a degree of acceptability on their own.
     From: report of Paul Thagard (Explanatory Coherence [1989], 4) by J.J.C. Smart - Explanation - Opening Address p.04
     A reaction: Thagard makes this an axiom, but Smart rejects that and says there is no reason why observation reports should not also be accepted because of their coherence (with our views about our senses etc.). I agree with Smart.
5: Contradictory propositions incohere [Thagard, by Smart]
     Full Idea: 5: Contradictory propositions incohere.
     From: report of Paul Thagard (Explanatory Coherence [1989], 5) by J.J.C. Smart - Explanation - Opening Address p.04
     A reaction: This has to be a minimal axiom for coherence, but coherence is always taken to be more than mere logical consistency. Mutual relevance is the first step. At least there must be no category mistakes.
6: A proposition's acceptability depends on its coherence with a system [Thagard, by Smart]
     Full Idea: 6: Acceptability of a proposition in a system depends on its coherence with the propositions in that system.
     From: report of Paul Thagard (Explanatory Coherence [1989], 6) by J.J.C. Smart - Explanation - Opening Address p.04
     A reaction: Thagard tried to build an AI system for coherent explanations, but I would say he has no chance with these six axioms, because they never grasp the nettle of what 'coherence' means. You first need rules for how things relate. What things are comparable?
14. Science / D. Explanation / 3. Best Explanation / a. Best explanation
The best theory has the highest subjective (Bayesian) probability? [Thagard]
     Full Idea: On the Bayesian view, the best theory is the one with the highest subjective probability, given the evidence as calculated by Bayes's theorem.
     From: Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.45)
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
We gain self-knowledge through action, not thought - especially when doing our duty [Goethe]
     Full Idea: How can we learn self-knowledge? Never by taking thought, but rather by action. Try to do your duty and you'll soon discover what you're like.
     From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 442)
     A reaction: Good! I even like the unfashionable bit about duty. If you just do what you want, you will discover your interests, but not so much about your capacities. However, when you have to do something less comfortable, it is very revealing.
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 5. Natural Beauty
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws [Goethe]
     Full Idea: Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws which without this appearance would have remained eternally hidden from us.
     From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 183)
     A reaction: An interesting defence of beauty as an objective feature of the world. I'm not sure. Much beauty is indeed the result of growth or erosion expressing underlying laws, but then I have always thought there was a sexual component to visual beauty.
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness
The happiest people link the beginning and end of life [Goethe]
     Full Idea: The happiest man is one who can link the end of his life with its beginning.
     From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 140)
     A reaction: [from 'Art and Antiquity']. A nice thought, which chimes in with the idea that a good life is like a complete story or a work of art (Idea 7501), or that it is 'eudaimon'.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 1. Purpose of a State
The best form of government teaches us to govern ourselves [Goethe]
     Full Idea: You ask which form of government is the best? Whichever teaches us to govern ourselves.
     From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 353)
     A reaction: Not a fashionable view, since the rise of freedom as the highest political ideal, but I identify with the idea that a good government should educate, and should try to facilitate virtue as well as pleasure.
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
To get duties from people without rights, you must pay them well [Goethe]
     Full Idea: If you demand duties from people and will not concede them rights, you have to pay them well.
     From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 180)
     A reaction: [from 'Art and Antiquity']. ...or have great power over them. Goethe gives the optimistic liberal view, rather than the Marxist view.