Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Dennis Whitcomb, Dicaearchus and Jeffrey H. Sicha

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5 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 3. Wisdom Deflated
The devil was wise as an angel, and lost no knowledge when he rebelled [Whitcomb]
     Full Idea: The devil is evil but nonetheless wise; he was a wise angel, and through no loss of knowledge, but, rather, through some sort of affective restructuring tried and failed to take over the throne.
     From: Dennis Whitcomb (Wisdom [2011], 'Argument')
     A reaction: ['affective restructuring' indeed! philosophers- don't you love 'em?] To fail at something you try to do suggests a flaw in the wisdom. And the new regime the devil wished to introduce doesn't look like a wise regime. Not convinced.
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / d. Natural numbers
The essence of natural numbers must reflect all the functions they perform [Sicha]
     Full Idea: What is really essential to being a natural number is what is common to the natural numbers in all the functions they perform.
     From: Jeffrey H. Sicha (Counting and the Natural Numbers [1968], 2)
     A reaction: I could try using natural numbers as insults. 'You despicable seven!' 'How dare you!' I actually agree. The question about functions is always 'what is it about this thing that enables it to perform this function'.
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / c. Counting procedure
To know how many, you need a numerical quantifier, as well as equinumerosity [Sicha]
     Full Idea: A knowledge of 'how many' cannot be inferred from the equinumerosity of two collections; a numerical quantifier statement is needed.
     From: Jeffrey H. Sicha (Counting and the Natural Numbers [1968], 3)
Counting puts an initial segment of a serial ordering 1-1 with some other entities [Sicha]
     Full Idea: Counting is the activity of putting an initial segment of a serially ordered string in 1-1 correspondence with some other collection of entities.
     From: Jeffrey H. Sicha (Counting and the Natural Numbers [1968], 2)
17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 3. Eliminativism
Dicaearchus said soul does not exist, but is just a configuration of the body [Dicaearchus, by Fortenbaugh]
     Full Idea: Dicaearchus advanced the view that mind and soul do not exist; there is only body configured in a certain way.
     From: report of Dicaearchus (On the Soul (frags) [c.320 BCE]) by William W. Fortenbaugh - Dicaearchus
     A reaction: Pure eliminativism! It is hard to find even ruthless modern physicalists taking such a bold view. Note that he is a pupil of Aristotle, and this does not sound like a major disagreement with his teacher's views.