Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Anaxarchus, Zoroaster and Jason Crease

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5 ideas

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
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 5. Parallelism
If parallelism is true, how does the mind know about the body? [Crease]
     Full Idea: In parallelism, the idea that we have a body is like an astronaut hearing shouting on the moon, and reasoning that as this is impossible he must be simultaneously imagining shouting AND there is real shouting taking place!
     From: Jason Crease (works [2001]), quoted by PG - Db (ideas)
     A reaction: This seems to capture the absurdity of Leibniz's proposal. I experience what my brain is doing, but not because my brain is doing it. I would never know if God had made a slight error in setting His two 'clocks'; their accuracy is just a pious hope.
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 1. Monotheistic Religion
Zoroaster and the Hebrew prophets evolved different versions of monotheism [Zoroaster, by Armstrong,K]
     Full Idea: Zoroaster and the Hebrew prophets evolved different versions of monotheism.
     From: report of Zoroaster (The Gathas (seventeen hymns) [c.900 BCE]) by Karen Armstrong - A History of God Ch.1
     A reaction: This seems to be the consensus on the origins of monotheism, which places the development much earlier than the appearance of the idea in Greek philosophy.
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 3. Zoroastrianism
Zarathustra was the first to present a god who is an abstract concept [Zoroaster]
     Full Idea: Zarathustra's achievement was for the first time to present a god who is an abstract concept - he broke with the tradition of a pantheon of gods.
     From: Zoroaster (The Gathas (seventeen hymns) [c.900 BCE]), quoted by Peter Watson - Ideas Ch.05
     A reaction: The more abstract the gods become, the harder it is to challenge their existence.
Zoroastrianism saw the world as a battle between good evil gods [Zoroaster, by Harari]
     Full Idea: Zoroastrianism saw the world as a cosmic battle between the good god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Angra Mainyu.
     From: report of Zoroaster (The Gathas (seventeen hymns) [c.900 BCE]) by Yuval Noah Harari - Sapiens: brief history of humankind 12 'Battle'
     A reaction: Hm. This contradicts the impression I had gained that it was monotheist.