Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Lycophron, Richard T.W. Arthur and Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama)

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6 ideas

10. Modality / B. Possibility / 1. Possibility

19378	Early modern possibility is what occurs sometime; for Leibniz, it is what is not contradictory [Arthur,R]
	Full Idea: For Descartes, Hobbes and Spinoza, if a state of things is possible, it must occur at some time, whether past, present or future. For Leibniz possibility makes no reference to time; an individual is possible if its concept contains no contradiction.
	From: Richard T.W. Arthur (Leibniz [2014], 4 'Contingent')
	A reaction: It has always struck me as fallacious to say that anything that is possible must at some time occur. If '6' is possible on the die, what will constrain it to eventually come up when thrown? Mere non-contradiction doesn't imply possibility either.

13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 3. Internal or External / a. Pro-internalism

604	Knowledge is mind and knowing 'cohabiting' [Lycophron, by Aristotle]
	Full Idea: Lycophron has it that knowledge is the 'cohabitation' (rather than participation or synthesis) of knowing and the soul.
	From: report of Lycophron (fragments/reports [c.375 BCE]) by Aristotle - Metaphysics 1045b
	A reaction: This sounds like a rather passive and inert relationship. Presumably knowing something implies the possibility of acting on it.

16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self

5517	Individuals don't exist, but are conventional names for sets of elements [Buddha]
	Full Idea: There exists no individual, it is only a conventional name given to a set of elements.
	From: Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) (reports [c.540 BCE]), quoted by Derek Parfit - The Unimportance of Identity p.295
	A reaction: I take this to arise from an excessively spiritual concept of a human being, which faces Descartes' problem of how to individuate non-physical minds, when they have no clear boundaries. Combine dualism with a bundle theory, and you have Buddhism.

17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 4. Occasionalism

19380	Occasionalism contradicts the Eucharist, which needs genuine changes of substance [Arthur,R]
	Full Idea: The Jesuits rejected occasionalism ... because it is incompatible with the Catholic interpretation of the Eucharist, which there is genuine change of substance of the bread into the substance of Christ (transubstantiation).
	From: Richard T.W. Arthur (Leibniz [2014], 5 'Substance')
	A reaction: Not sure I understand this, but I take it that the Eucharist needs a real relation across the substance-spirit boundary, and not just a co-ordination.

29. Religion / C. Spiritual Disciplines / 3. Buddhism

7600	The Buddha believed the gods would eventually disappear, and Nirvana was much higher [Buddha, by Armstrong,K]
	Full Idea: The Buddha believed implicitly in the gods because they were part of his cultural baggage, but they were involved in the cycle of rebirth, and would eventually disappear; the ultimate reality of Nirvana was higher than the gods.
	From: report of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) (reports [c.540 BCE]) by Karen Armstrong - A History of God Ch.1
	A reaction: We might connect this with Plato's Euthyphro question (Ideas 336 and 337), and the relationship between piety and morality on the one hand, and the gods on the other.

7601	Life is suffering, from which only compassion, gentleness, truth and sobriety can save us [Buddha]
	Full Idea: Buddha taught that the only release from 'dukkha' (the meaningless flux of suffering which is human life) is a life of compassion for all living beings, speaking and behaving gently, kindly and accurately, and refraining from all intoxicants.
	From: Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) (reports [c.540 BCE], Ch.1), quoted by Karen Armstrong - A History of God Ch.1
	A reaction: Christians are inclined to give the impression that Jesus invented the idea of being nice, but it ain't so. The obvious thought is that the Buddha seems to be focusing on the individual, but this is actually a formula for a better community.