Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Hermarchus, Nicholas P. White and Ariston

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6 ideas

2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic

20768	Like spiderswebs, dialectical arguments are clever but useless [Ariston, by Diog. Laertius]
	Full Idea: He said that dialectical arguments were like spiderswebs: although they seem to indicate craftsmanlike skill, they are useless.
	From: report of Ariston (fragments/reports [c.250 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.161
	A reaction: Useful for the spider, but useless to Ariston.

5. Theory of Logic / J. Model Theory in Logic / 3. Löwenheim-Skolem Theorems

17813	Löwenheim-Skolem says any theory with a true interpretation has a model in the natural numbers [White,NP]
	Full Idea: The Löwenheim-Skolem theorem tells us that any theory with a true interpretation has a model in the natural numbers.
	From: Nicholas P. White (What Numbers Are [1974], V)

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / c. Counting procedure

17812	Finite cardinalities don't need numbers as objects; numerical quantifiers will do [White,NP]
	Full Idea: Statements involving finite cardinalities can be made without treating numbers as objects at all, simply by using quantification and identity to define numerically definite quantifiers in the manner of Frege.
	From: Nicholas P. White (What Numbers Are [1974], IV)
	A reaction: [He adds Quine 1960:268 as a reference]

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / f. The Mean

3049	The chief good is indifference to what lies midway between virtue and vice [Ariston, by Diog. Laertius]
	Full Idea: The chief good is to live in perfect indifference to all those things which are of an intermediate character between virtue and vice.
	From: report of Ariston (fragments/reports [c.250 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.2.1

23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 1. Deontology

3549	Ariston says rules are useless for the virtuous and the non-virtuous [Ariston, by Annas]
	Full Idea: Ariston says that rules are useless if you are virtuous, and useless if you are not.
	From: report of Ariston (fragments/reports [c.250 BCE]) by Julia Annas - The Morality of Happiness 2.4

25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 6. Animal Rights

6005	Animals are dangerous and nourishing, and can't form contracts of justice [Hermarchus, by Sedley]
	Full Idea: Hermarchus said that animal killing is justified by considerations of human safety and nourishment and by animals' inability to form contractual relations of justice with us.
	From: report of Hermarchus (fragments/reports [c.270 BCE]) by David A. Sedley - Hermarchus
	A reaction: Could the last argument be used to justify torturing animals? Or could we eat a human who was too brain-damaged to form contracts?