248 ideas
23889 | Among the Greeks Aristotle is the only philosopher in the modern style [Weil] |
23881 | All thought about values is philosophical, and thought about anything else is not philosophy [Weil] |
23885 | Philosophy aims to change the soul, not to accumulate knowledge [Weil] |
12667 | Metaphysics aims at the simplest explanation, without regard to testability [Ellis] |
23886 | Systems are not unique to each philosopher. The platonist tradition is old and continuous [Weil] |
13567 | Ontology should give insight into or an explanation of the world revealed by science [Ellis] |
5486 | Essentialism says metaphysics can't be done by analysing unreliable language [Ellis] |
23884 | Truth is a value of thought [Weil] |
23825 | We seek truth only because it is good [Weil] |
23877 | Most people won't question an idea's truth if they depend on it [Weil] |
23853 | Truth is not a object we love - it is the radiant manifestation of reality [Weil] |
23755 | Genius and love of truth are always accompanied by great humility [Weil] |
13604 | Real possibility and necessity has the logic of S5, which links equivalence classes of worlds of the same kind [Ellis] |
12666 | We can base logic on acceptability, and abandon the Fregean account by truth-preservation [Ellis] |
13606 | Humean conceptions of reality drive the adoption of extensional logic [Ellis] |
12688 | Mathematics is the formal study of the categorical dimensions of things [Ellis] |
24189 | The criterion of the real is contradictions [Weil] |
12683 | Objects and substances are a subcategory of the natural kinds of processes [Ellis] |
12670 | A physical event is any change of distribution of energy [Ellis] |
23855 | Creation produced a network or web of determinations [Weil] |
13584 | The extension of a property is a contingent fact, so cannot be the essence of the property [Ellis] |
5468 | Properties are 'dispositional', or 'categorical' (the latter as 'block' or 'intrinsic' structures) [Ellis, by PG] |
13587 | There is no property of 'fragility', as things are each fragile in a distinctive way [Ellis] |
12673 | Physical properties are those relevant to how a physical system might act [Ellis] |
13577 | Typical 'categorical' properties are spatio-temporal, such as shape [Ellis] |
9436 | The property of 'being an electron' is not of anything, and only electrons could have it [Ellis] |
5469 | The passive view of nature says categorical properties are basic, but others say dispositions [Ellis] |
12665 | I support categorical properties, although most people only want causal powers [Ellis] |
12682 | Essentialism needs categorical properties (spatiotemporal and numerical relations) and dispositions [Ellis] |
12684 | Spatial, temporal and numerical relations have causal roles, without being causal [Ellis] |
13582 | 'Being a methane molecule' is not a property - it is just a predicate [Ellis] |
12672 | Properties and relations are discovered, so they can't be mere sets of individuals [Ellis] |
5456 | Redness is not a property as it is not mind-independent [Ellis] |
18398 | Space, time, and some other basics, are not causal powers [Ellis] |
13580 | Causal powers must necessarily act the way they do [Ellis] |
13598 | Causal powers are often directional (e.g. centripetal, centrifugal, circulatory) [Ellis] |
12676 | Causal powers can't rest on things which lack causal power [Ellis] |
13568 | Basic powers may not be explained by structure, if at the bottom level there is no structure [Ellis] |
13586 | Maybe dispositions can be explained by intrinsic properties or structures [Ellis] |
5481 | Properties have powers; they aren't just ways for logicians to classify objects [Ellis] |
23781 | Categoricals exist to influence powers. Such as structures, orientations and magnitudes [Ellis, by Williams,NE] |
5458 | Nearly all fundamental properties of physics are dispositional [Ellis] |
13585 | The most fundamental properties of nature (mass, charge, spin ...) all seem to be dispositions [Ellis] |
13596 | A causal power is a disposition to produce forces [Ellis] |
13599 | Powers are dispositions of the essences of kinds that involve them in causation [Ellis] |
12686 | Causal powers are a proper subset of the dispositional properties [Ellis] |
13572 | There are 'substantive' (objects of some kind), 'dynamic' (events of some kind) and 'property' universals [Ellis] |
13573 | Universals are all types of natural kind [Ellis] |
12685 | Categorical properties depend only on the structures they represent [Ellis] |
5443 | Kripke and others have made essentialism once again respectable [Ellis] |
5444 | 'Individual essences' fix a particular individual, and 'kind essences' fix the kind it belongs to [Ellis] |
13571 | Scientific essentialism doesn't really need Kripkean individual essences [Ellis] |
12679 | A real essence is a kind's distinctive properties [Ellis] |
5462 | Essential properties are usually quantitatively determinate [Ellis] |
5448 | 'Real essence' makes it what it is; 'nominal essence' makes us categorise it a certain way [Ellis] |
13578 | The old idea that identity depends on essence and behaviour is rejected by the empiricists [Ellis] |
5477 | One thing can look like something else, without being the something else [Ellis] |
13576 | Necessities are distinguished by their grounds, not their different modalities [Ellis] |
12668 | Metaphysical necessity holds between things in the world and things they make true [Ellis] |
5479 | Scientific essentialists say science should define the limits of the possible [Ellis] |
23900 | Chance is compatible with necessity, and the two occur together [Weil] |
12687 | Metaphysical necessities are those depending on the essential nature of things [Ellis] |
5483 | Essentialists deny possible worlds, and say possibilities are what is compatible with the actual world [Ellis] |
13570 | Individual essences necessitate that individual; natural kind essences necessitate kind membership [Ellis] |
5447 | Metaphysical necessities are true in virtue of the essences of things [Ellis] |
5476 | Essentialists say natural laws are in a new category: necessary a posteriori [Ellis] |
5478 | Imagination tests what is possible for all we know, not true possibility [Ellis] |
5482 | Possible worlds realism is only needed to give truth conditions for modals and conditionals [Ellis] |
24194 | Wanting new discoveries blocks good thinking about what has been discovered [Weil] |
24195 | Don't reject opinions; arrange them all in a hierarchy [Weil] |
23888 | Knowledge is beyond question, as an unavoidable component of thinking [Weil] |
5453 | Essentialists mostly accept the primary/secondary qualities distinction [Ellis] |
5466 | Primary qualities are number, figure, size, texture, motion, configuration, impenetrability and (?) mass [Ellis] |
3061 | Anaxarchus said that he was not even sure that he knew nothing [Anaxarchus, by Diog. Laertius] |
12669 | Science aims to explain things, not just describe them [Ellis] |
13607 | If events are unconnected, then induction cannot be solved [Ellis] |
5485 | Emeralds are naturally green, and only an external force could turn them blue [Ellis] |
13597 | Good explanations unify [Ellis] |
5484 | Essentialists don't infer from some to all, but from essences to necessary behaviour [Ellis] |
13601 | Explanations of particular events are not essentialist, as they don't reveal essential structures [Ellis] |
13569 | To give essentialist explanations there have to be natural kinds [Ellis] |
13600 | The point of models in theories is not to idealise, but to focus on what is essential [Ellis] |
23747 | What is sacred is not a person, but the whole physical human being [Weil] |
24182 | We must be obedient, and love necessity [Weil] |
23756 | The mind is imprisoned and limited by language, restricting our awareness of wider thoughts [Weil] |
24177 | Higher emotions have less energy, and actions may need the lower emotions [Weil] |
5457 | Predicates assert properties, values, denials, relations, conventions, existence and fabrications [Ellis, by PG] |
5488 | Regularity theories of causation cannot give an account of human agency [Ellis] |
23878 | Weakness of will is the inadequacy of the original impetus to carry through the action [Weil] |
5489 | Humans have variable dispositions, and also power to change their dispositions [Ellis] |
24184 | What matters about an action is not its aim, but the origin of its compulsion [Weil] |
23899 | The secret of art is that beauty is a just blend of unity and its opposite [Weil] |
23848 | The aesthete's treatment of beauty as amusement is sacreligious; beauty should nourish [Weil] |
23832 | We both desire what is beautiful, and want it to remain as it is [Weil] |
23758 | Beauty is an attractive mystery, leaving nothing to be desired [Weil] |
23887 | Art (like philosophy) establishes a relation between world and self, and between oneself and others [Weil] |
24198 | Perfect works of art seem to be essentially anonymous [Weil] |
23903 | When we admire a work, we see ourselves as its creator [Weil] |
23898 | Those who say immorality is not an aesthetic criterion must show that all criteria are aesthetic [Weil] |
23826 | Beauty, goodness and truth are only achieved by applying full attention [Weil] |
23814 | Every human yearns for an unattainable transcendent good [Weil] |
23854 | Beauty is the proof of what is good [Weil] |
23824 | Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty [Weil] |
5490 | Essentialism fits in with Darwinism, but not with extreme politics of left or right [Ellis] |
23879 | In a violent moral disagreement, it can't be that both sides are just following social morality [Weil] |
24191 | We want our values to be eternal [Weil] |
24197 | Power and money are supreme means, thus blinding people to ends [Weil] |
23882 | Ends, unlike means, cannot be defined, which is why people tend to pursue means [Weil] |
23760 | All we need are the unity of justice, truth and beauty [Weil] |
23883 | Minds essentially and always strive towards value [Weil] |
23748 | The sacred in every human is their expectation of good rather than evil [Weil] |
24181 | We need love to have a good death [Weil] |
24179 | We should never desire the immortality of the people we love [Weil] |
23759 | Everything which originates in love is beautiful [Weil] |
23762 | Evil is transmitted by comforts and pleasures, but mostly by doing harm to people [Weil] |
24193 | If we focus on the good, our whole soul is drawn towards it [Weil] |
23808 | There are two goods - the absolute good we want, and the reachable opposite of evil [Weil] |
23833 | The good is a nothingness, and yet real [Weil] |
23865 | Morality would improve if people could pursue private interests [Weil] |
24196 | Loving others as ourselves implies varied love, and varied suffering [Weil] |
23896 | We see our character as a restricting limit, but also as an unshakable support [Weil] |
23893 | We don't see character in a single moment, but only over a period of time [Weil] |
23894 | The concept of character is at the centre of morality [Weil] |
23895 | We modify our character by placing ourselves in situations, or by attending to what seems trivial [Weil] |
24183 | We should only perform the good actions which we can't help doing [Weil] |
23837 | Respect is our only obligation, which can only be expressed through deeds, not words [Weil] |
23815 | We cannot equally respect what is unequal, so equal respect needs a shared ground [Weil] |
24185 | Friendship is a virtue, not a state we should dream of [Weil] |
23834 | Friendship is partly universal - the love of a person is like the ideal of loving everyone [Weil] |
24188 | It is absurd to say that evil proves life is worthless. If it were, why would evil matter? [Weil] |
24205 | Monotony is beautiful as a reflection of eternity, or atrocious as unvarying perpetuity [Weil] |
23823 | Life needs risks to avoid sickly boredom [Weil] |
23844 | The most important human need is to have multiple roots [Weil] |
23838 | The need for order stands above all others, and is understood via the other needs [Weil] |
23836 | Obligations only bind individuals, not collectives [Weil] |
24202 | Obedience to an illegitimate ruler is a nightmare [Weil] |
24200 | A citizen is defined by their subjection to the laws [Weil] |
23843 | Even the poorest should feel collective ownership, and participation in grand display [Weil] |
23822 | We all need to partipate in public tasks, and take some initiative [Weil] |
23840 | A citizen should be able to understand the whole of society [Weil] |
23846 | Culture is an instrument for creating an ongoing succession of teachers [Weil] |
23857 | People in power always try to increase their power [Weil] |
23866 | In oppressive societies the scope of actual control is extended by a religion of power [Weil] |
23812 | Force is what turns man into a thing, and ultimately into a corpse [Weil] |
24201 | Social order is equilibrium of forces, which must be corrected when imbalanced [Weil] |
24199 | There is no oppression, or oppressive class; there is only an oppressive society [Weil] |
23831 | The essence of power is illusory prestige [Weil] |
23839 | A lifelong head of society should only be a symbol, not a ruler [Weil] |
23871 | No central authority can initiate decentralisation [Weil] |
23856 | Spontaneous movements are powerless against organised repression [Weil] |
23867 | After a bloody revolution the group which already had the power comes to the fore [Weil] |
24203 | Atheistic materialism must be revolutionary, because its good is in the future [Weil] |
23830 | A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil] |
23870 | Decentralisation is only possible by co-operation between strong and weak - which is absurd [Weil] |
24190 | Anarchists thought (hopelessly) that empowering the oppressed would end evil [Weil] |
23809 | Our only social duty is to try to limit evil [Weil] |
23829 | National leaders want to preserve necessary order - but always the existing order [Weil] |
23817 | We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil] |
23842 | Party politics in a democracy can't avoid an anti-democratic party [Weil] |
23859 | True democracy is the subordination of society to the individual [Weil] |
23863 | Only individual people of good will can achieve social progress [Weil] |
23869 | In the least evil societies people can think, control community life, and be autonomous [Weil] |
23847 | Socialism tends to make a proletariat of the whole population [Weil] |
23750 | It is not more money which the wretched members of society need [Weil] |
23807 | The collective is the one and only object of false idolatry [Weil] |
23749 | The problem of the collective is not suppression of persons, but persons erasing themselves [Weil] |
23861 | Marx showed that capitalist oppression, because of competition, is unstoppable [Weil] |
23897 | Once money is the main aim, society needs everyone to think wealth is possible [Weil] |
23845 | The capitalists neglect the people and the nation, and even their own interests [Weil] |
23828 | National prestige consists of behaving as if you could beat the others in a war [Weil] |
23810 | Charity is the only love, and you can feel that for a country (a place with traditions), but not a nation [Weil] |
23868 | The pleasure of completing tasks motivates just as well as the whip of slavery [Weil] |
23811 | If effort is from necessity rather than for a good, it is slavery [Weil] |
23819 | Deliberate public lying should be punished [Weil] |
23818 | We have liberty in the space between nature and accepted authority [Weil] |
23901 | Relationships depend on equality, so unequal treatment kills them [Weil] |
23841 | By making money the sole human measure, inequality has become universal [Weil] |
23753 | People absurdly claim an equal share of things which are essentially privileged [Weil] |
23864 | Inequality could easily be mitigated, if it were not for the struggle for power [Weil] |
23835 | People have duties, and only have rights because of the obligations of others to them [Weil] |
23752 | Giving centrality to rights stifles all impulses of charity [Weil] |
23751 | Rights are asserted contentiously, and need the backing of force [Weil] |
23820 | People need personal and collective property, and a social class lacking property is shameful [Weil] |
23757 | The spirit of justice needs the full attention of truth, and that attention is love [Weil] |
23761 | Justice (concerning harm) is distinct from rights (concerning inequality) [Weil] |
23813 | Only people who understand force, and don't respect it, are capable of justice [Weil] |
23852 | To punish people we must ourselves be innocent - but that undermines the desire to punish [Weil] |
23764 | The only thing in society worse than crime is repressive justice [Weil] |
23821 | Crime should be punished, to bring the perpetrator freely back to morality [Weil] |
23763 | Punishment aims at the good for men who don't desire it [Weil] |
23827 | Modern wars are fought in the name of empty words which are given capital letters [Weil] |
23880 | When war was a profession, customary morality justified any act of war [Weil] |
23850 | The soldier-civilian distinction should be abolished; every citizen is committed to a war [Weil] |
23858 | War is perpetuated by its continual preparations [Weil] |
23851 | Education is essentially motivation [Weil] |
23873 | Dividing history books into separate chapters is disastrous [Weil] |
23860 | Even if a drowning man is doomed, he should keep swimming to the last [Weil] |
5472 | Natural kinds are of objects/substances, or events/processes, or intrinsic natures [Ellis] |
6613 | The natural kinds are objects, processes and properties/relations [Ellis] |
12681 | There are natural kinds of processes [Ellis] |
13583 | There might be uninstantiated natural kinds, such as transuranic elements which have never occurred [Ellis] |
13574 | Natural kinds are distinguished by resting on essences [Ellis] |
5471 | Essentialism says natural kinds are fundamental to nature, and determine the laws [Ellis] |
12680 | Natural kind structures go right down to the bottom level [Ellis] |
5446 | For essentialists two members of a natural kind must be identical [Ellis] |
5480 | The whole of our world is a natural kind, so all worlds like it necessarily have the same laws [Ellis] |
13575 | If there are borderline cases between natural kinds, that makes them superficial [Ellis] |
5445 | Essentialists regard inanimate objects as genuine causal agents [Ellis] |
5463 | Essentialists believe causation is necessary, resulting from dispositions and circumstances [Ellis] |
5491 | A general theory of causation is only possible in an area if natural kinds are involved [Ellis] |
13595 | Laws don't exist in the world; they are true of the world [Ellis] |
5442 | For 'passivists' behaviour is imposed on things from outside [Ellis] |
5473 | The laws of nature imitate the hierarchy of natural kinds [Ellis] |
5474 | Laws of nature tend to describe ideal things, or ideal circumstances [Ellis] |
5475 | We must explain the necessity, idealisation, ontology and structure of natural laws [Ellis] |
6616 | Least action is not a causal law, but a 'global law', describing a global essence [Ellis] |
12675 | Laws of nature are just descriptions of how things are disposed to behave [Ellis] |
5460 | Causal relations cannot be reduced to regularities, as they could occur just once [Ellis] |
13566 | A proton must have its causal role, because without it it wouldn't be a proton [Ellis] |
13579 | What is most distinctive of scientific essentialism is regarding processes as natural kinds [Ellis] |
13581 | Scientific essentialism is more concerned with explanation than with identity (Locke, not Kripke) [Ellis] |
13594 | The ontological fundamentals are dispositions, and also categorical (spatio-temporal and structural) properties [Ellis] |
5459 | Essentialists say dispositions are basic, rather than supervenient on matter and natural laws [Ellis] |
5461 | The essence of uranium is its atomic number and its electron shell [Ellis] |
6615 | A species requires a genus, and its essence includes the essence of the genus [Ellis] |
13603 | A primary aim of science is to show the limits of the possible [Ellis] |
5464 | For essentialists, laws of nature are metaphysically necessary, being based on essences of natural kinds [Ellis] |
6614 | A hierarchy of natural kinds is elaborate ontology, but needed to explain natural laws [Ellis] |
5487 | Essentialism requires a clear separation of semantics, epistemology and ontology [Ellis] |
6612 | Without general principles, we couldn't predict the behaviour of dispositional properties [Ellis] |
12671 | I deny forces as entities that intervene in causation, but are not themselves causal [Ellis] |
12674 | Energy is the key multi-valued property, vital to scientific realism [Ellis] |
12689 | Simultaneity can be temporal equidistance from the Big Bang [Ellis] |
24204 | The past is known to us but unreachable - a perfect image of eternal, supernatural reality [Weil] |
12690 | The present is the collapse of the light wavefront from the Big Bang [Ellis] |
23816 | Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil] |
23754 | The only choice is between supernatural good, or evil [Weil] |
24192 | My love makes me believe in God; the inconceivability of this God makes me disbelieve [Weil] |
23892 | The only legitimate proof of God by order derives from beauty [Weil] |
23904 | The cruelty of the Old Testament put me off Christianity [Weil] |
24178 | We must leave on one side the ordinary 'consolations' of religion [Weil] |
24206 | Revolution (not religion) is the opium of the people [Weil] |
23849 | Religion should quietly suffuse all human life with its light [Weil] |
23902 | I attach little importance to immortality, which is an undecidable fact, and irrelevant to us [Weil] |
24180 | We just see immortality as prolongation of life, making death meaningless [Weil] |
23765 | The soul is the intrinsic value of a human [Weil] |
24186 | If the world lacked evil, then the evil would be in our desires, which would be worse [Weil] |
24187 | Without worldly affliction, we'd think this is paradise [Weil] |