Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Hesiod, Isaiah and Samuel Scheffler

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


5 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 2. Invocation to Philosophy
Let us reason together, saith the Lord [Isaiah]
     Full Idea: Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
     From: Isaiah (23: Book of Isaiah [c.680 BCE], 01.18)
     A reaction: A verse which not only offers Biblical support for philosophy, but would also seem to be a challenge to Christian fideists.
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / g. Consequentialism
If the aim is good outcomes, why are killings worse than deaths? [Scheffler, by Foot]
     Full Idea: It is not clear why, in the measurement of the goodness of states of affairs or total outcomes, killings for instance should count so much more heavily than deaths.
     From: report of Samuel Scheffler (The Rejection of Consequentialism [1982], pp.108-12) by Philippa Foot - Utilitarianism and the Virtues p.61
     A reaction: Or drunken drivers worse than careless drivers. Or stolen bracelets than lost bracelets. The point is that morality is about the behaviour of people, and not about consequences.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues
Unlike us, the early Greeks thought envy was a good thing, and hope a bad thing [Hesiod, by Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: Hesiod reckons envy among the effects of the good and benevolent Eris, and there was nothing offensive in according envy to the gods. ...Likewise the Greeks were different from us in their evaluation of hope: one felt it to be blind and malicious.
     From: report of Hesiod (works [c.700 BCE]) by Friedrich Nietzsche - Dawn (Daybreak) 038
     A reaction: Presumably this would be understandable envy, and unreasonable hope. Ridiculous envy can't possibly be good, and modest and sensible hope can't possibly be bad. I suspect he wants to exaggerate the relativism.
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 1. Cosmology
The world is established, and cannot be moved [Isaiah]
     Full Idea: The world is also established, that it cannot be moved.
     From: Isaiah (23: Book of Isaiah [c.680 BCE], 93.1)
     A reaction: This verse caused big trouble for Galileo. The only reason I can think of for Isaiah to write this is that occasionally people were prone to panic, and worry that the Earth might suddenly and abruptly be moved.
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 1. God
Beside me there is no God [Isaiah]
     Full Idea: I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
     From: Isaiah (23: Book of Isaiah [c.680 BCE], 44.06)
     A reaction: This seems to be the first clear statement (c. 680 BCE) of monotheism, certainly preceding any Greek views on the subject (cf. Idea 2629,Idea 7347). It is not just an arrogant assertion by the jews, but a humble sacrifice, donating their god to humanity.