Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Proclus, Peter (Pyotr) Kropotkin and Andy Douglas

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4 ideas

14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations

13165	Geometrical proofs do not show causes, as when we prove a triangle contains two right angles [Proclus]
	Full Idea: Geometry does not ask 'why?' ..When from the exterior angle equalling two opposite interior angles it is shown that the interior angles make two right angles, this is not a causal demonstration. With no exterior angle they still equal two right angles.
	From: Proclus (Commentary on Euclid's 'Elements' [c.452], p.161-2), quoted by Paolo Mancosu - Explanation in Mathematics §5
	A reaction: A very nice example. It is hard to imagine how one might demonstrate the cause of the angles making two right angles. If you walk, turn left x°, then turn left y°, then turn left z°, and x+y+z=180°, you end up going in the original direction.

15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 3. Privacy

5210	We could know what a lion thinks by mapping both its brain patterns and its experiences [Douglas,A]
	Full Idea: In principle, it seems possible to monitor both the brain activity and the external experiences of a lion cub from birth, and by extensive mapping of one against the other to work out fairly accurately what a lion is thinking.
	From: Andy Douglas (talk [2003])
	A reaction: This has limitations (e.g. we could monitor the external events, but not the way the lion experiences them), but it seems to me to offer a real theoretical possibility of breaching the mental privacy of an inarticulate creature.

18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 1. Abstract Thought

9569	The origin of geometry started in sensation, then moved to calculation, and then to reason [Proclus]
	Full Idea: It is unsurprising that geometry was discovered in the necessity of Nile land measurement, since everything in the world of generation goes from imperfection to perfection. They would naturally pass from sense-perception to calculation, and so to reason.
	From: Proclus (Commentary on Euclid's 'Elements' [c.452]), quoted by Charles Chihara - A Structural Account of Mathematics 9.12 n55
	A reaction: The last sentence is the core of my view on abstraction, that it proceeds by moving through levels of abstraction, approaching more and more general truths.

25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 1. Grounds of equality

20486	Only liberty, equality and sympathy can stand up to anti-social people [Kropotkin]
	Full Idea: Liberty, equality and practical human sympathy are the only effective barriers we can oppose to the anti-social instincts of certain among us.
	From: Peter (Pyotr) Kropotkin (Law and Authority [1886], 1 'Anarchism'), quoted by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev)
	A reaction: One might state it more succinctly as 'only the social can oppose the anti-social'. The dominance in society of essentially anti-social people seems to have become a major political fact in 2017, in the UK and the USA.