Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Douglas Lackey, Jean Calvin and Thomas M. Scanlon

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these philosophers

---

4 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 5. Paradoxes in Set Theory / b. Cantor's paradox

21554	Sets always exceed terms, so all the sets must exceed all the sets [Lackey]
	Full Idea: Cantor proved that the number of sets in a collection of terms is larger than the number of terms. Hence Cantor's Paradox says the number of sets in the collection of all sets must be larger than the number of sets in the collection of all sets.
	From: Douglas Lackey (Intros to Russell's 'Essays in Analysis' [1973], p.127)
	A reaction: The sets must count as terms in the next iteration, but that is a normal application of the Power Set axiom.

5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 5. Paradoxes in Set Theory / c. Burali-Forti's paradox

21553	It seems that the ordinal number of all the ordinals must be bigger than itself [Lackey]
	Full Idea: The ordinal series is well-ordered and thus has an ordinal number, and a series of ordinals to a given ordinal exceeds that ordinal by 1. So the series of all ordinals has an ordinal number that exceeds its own ordinal number by 1.
	From: Douglas Lackey (Intros to Russell's 'Essays in Analysis' [1973], p.127)
	A reaction: Formulated by Burali-Forti in 1897.

23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 9. Contractualism

20992	Right and wrong concerns what other people cannot reasonably reject [Scanlon]
	Full Idea: Thinking about right and wrong is, at the most basic level, thinking about what could be justified to others on grounds that they, if appropriately motivated, could not reasonably reject.
	From: Thomas M. Scanlon (What We Owe to Each Other [1998], Intro)
	A reaction: The tricky bit is that the acceptance by others must be 'reasonable', so we need a reasonably objective view of rationality. Don't picture your neighbours, picture the locals when you are on holiday in a very different culture. Other Nazis?

25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 2. Religion in Society

20723	Only when working people are poor do they remain obedient to God [Calvin, by Weber]
	Full Idea: Calvin made the much-quoted statement that only when the people, i.e. the mass of labourers and craftsmen, were poor did they remain obedient to God.
	From: report of Jean Calvin (works [1549]) by Max Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 5
	A reaction: This is only one aspect of Christian influence. The alternative is John Wesley's exhortation to work diligently, live modestly, save, invest and get rich. Most people want a comfortable intermediate state, but who proclaims that?