Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Thomas M. Scanlon 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.

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?

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?

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.