Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Armand Marie LeRoi and Martin Luther

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4 ideas

1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 4. Early European Thought
8011 Aristotle is a buffoon who has misled the Church [Luther, by MacIntyre]
     Full Idea: Aristotle is a buffoon who has misled the Church.
     From: report of Martin Luther (talk [1525]) by Alasdair MacIntyre - A Short History of Ethics Ch.10
     A reaction: Before he became famous, Luther was a university lecturer on Aristotle. This remark was a hundred years before philosophers began serious criticism of Aristotle. Presumably Protestants just stopped reading him.
1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 2. Ancient Philosophy / b. Pre-Socratic philosophy
21355 The Pre-Socratics are not simple naturalists, because they do not always 'leave the gods out' [Leroi]
     Full Idea: The problem with making naturalism the hallmark of Pre-Socratic thought ...is that they do not always 'leave the gods out'; the Divine can usually be found lurking somewhere is their cosmologies.
     From: Armand Marie LeRoi (The Lagoon: how Aristotle invented science [2014], 007)
     A reaction: An important observation. I've been guilty of this simplistic view. We tend to ignore the religious fragments, or we possess so little that we have no idea where religion figured in their accounts.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / j. Explanations by reduction
20653 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?
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / e. Fideism
6609 With respect to religion, reason is a blind whore [Luther]
     Full Idea: With respect to the mysteries of the Christian religion, reason is a blind whore.
     From: Martin Luther (talk [1525]), quoted by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason n4.2
     A reaction: Reason is presumably a blind whore with respect to all impenetrable mysteries. Since the reason of Aquinas endorsed the mysteries of Christianity, the remark seems a bit strong, but it is appropriate if you think that only faith (in Christianity) matters.