Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, A.E. Taylor and Terry Pinkard

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


7 ideas

1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 4. Later European Philosophy / c. Eighteenth century philosophy
Wolff's version of Leibniz dominated mid-18th C German thought [Pinkard]
     Full Idea: The dominant philosophy of mid-eighteenth century Germany was Wolffianism, a codified and almost legalistically organised form of Leibnizian thought.
     From: Terry Pinkard (German Philosophy 1760-1860 [2002], Intro)
     A reaction: Kant grew up in this intellectual climate.
Romantics explored beautiful subjectivity, and the re-enchantment of nature [Pinkard]
     Full Idea: Early Romanticism can be seen as the exploration of subjective interiority and as the re-enchantment of nature (as organic). Hegel said they had the idea of a 'beautiful soul', which (he said) either paralysed action, or made them smug.
     From: Terry Pinkard (German Philosophy 1760-1860 [2002], 06)
     A reaction: [compressed, inc Note 1] A major dilemma of life is the extent of our social engagement, because it makes life worthwhile, but pollutes the mind with continual conflicts.
The combination of Kant and the French Revolution was an excited focus for German philosophy [Pinkard]
     Full Idea: After the French Revolution, philosophy suddenly became the key rallying point for an entire generation of German intellectuals, who had been reading Kant as the harbinger of a new order.
     From: Terry Pinkard (German Philosophy 1760-1860 [2002], Pt II Intro)
     A reaction: Kant was a harbinger because he offered an autonomous status to each individual, rather than being subservient to a social order.
1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 4. Later European Philosophy / d. Nineteenth century philosophy
In Hegel's time naturalism was called 'Spinozism' [Pinkard]
     Full Idea: In Hegel's time the shorthand for the Naturalistic worldview was 'Spinozism'.
     From: Terry Pinkard (German Philosophy 1760-1860 [2002], 10)
     A reaction: Spinozism hit Germany like a bomb in 1786, when it was reported that the poet Hölderlin was a fan of Spinoza.
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / a. Idealism
Idealism is the link between reason and freedom [Pinkard]
     Full Idea: Idealism was conceived as a link between reason and freedom.
     From: Terry Pinkard (German Philosophy 1760-1860 [2002], 14 Conc)
     A reaction: I'm beginning to see the Romantic era as the Age of Freedom, which followed the Age of Reason. This idea fits that picture nicely. Pinkard says that paradoxes resulted from the attemptl
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / j. Explanations by reduction
Six reduction levels: groups, lives, cells, molecules, atoms, particles [Putnam/Oppenheim, by Watson]
     Full Idea: There are six 'reductive levels' in science: social groups, (multicellular) living things, cells, molecules, atoms, and elementary particles.
     From: report of H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim (Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis [1958]) by Peter Watson - Convergence 10 'Intro'
     A reaction: I have the impression that fields are seen as more fundamental that elementary particles. What is the status of the 'laws' that are supposed to govern these things? What is the status of space and time within this picture?
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / h. Respect
Religious experience deserves the same respect as our other key experiences, and is best called 'holy' [Taylor,AE, by PG]
     Full Idea: We respect the religious experience of others in a similar way to our respect for their artistic or sense experiences, and the quality which makes them seem authentic can only be called 'holy'.
     From: report of A.E. Taylor (Vindication of Religion (extract) [1926], III) by PG - Db (ideas)