Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Arcesilaus, Carneades and Steven Pinker

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21 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined
2666 Carneades' pinnacles of philosophy are the basis of knowledge (the criterion of truth) and the end of appetite (good) [Carneades, by Cicero]
3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 10. Making Future Truths
21390 Future events are true if one day we will say 'this event is happening now' [Carneades]
21672 We say future things are true that will possess actuality at some following time [Carneades, by Cicero]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 2. Reduction
7508 Good reductionism connects fields of knowledge, but doesn't replace one with another [Pinker]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 6. Identity between Objects
15825 Carneades denied the transitivity of identity [Carneades, by Chisholm]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 3. Types of Necessity
21389 Carneades distinguished logical from causal necessity, when talking of future events [Long on Carneades]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 2. Associationism
7510 Connectionists say the mind is a general purpose learning device [Pinker]
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 4. Memory
7513 Is memory stored in protein sequences, neurons, synapses, or synapse-strengths? [Pinker]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 3. Illusion Scepticism
2667 A false object might give the same presentation as a true one [Arcesilaus, by Cicero]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 2. Sources of Free Will
21671 Voluntary motion is intrinsically within our power, and this power is its cause [Carneades, by Cicero]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
7509 Roundworms live successfully with 302 neurons, so human freedom comes from our trillions [Pinker]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 6. Determinism / a. Determinism
21391 Some actions are within our power; determinism needs prior causes for everything - so it is false [Carneades, by Cicero]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 6. Determinism / b. Fate
21674 Even Apollo can only foretell the future when it is naturally necessary [Carneades, by Cicero]
17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 4. Connectionism
7511 Neural networks can generalise their training, e.g. truths about tigers apply mostly to lions [Pinker]
7512 There are five types of reasoning that seem beyond connectionist systems [Pinker, by PG]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
7505 Many think that accepting human nature is to accept innumerable evils [Pinker]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / i. Self-interest
7398 Carneades said that after a shipwreck a wise man would seize the only plank by force [Carneades, by Tuck]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice
21392 People change laws for advantage; either there is no justice, or it is a form of self-injury [Carneades, by Lactantius]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 2. Life
7516 In 1828, the stuff of life was shown to be ordinary chemistry, not a magic gel [Pinker]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution
7515 All the evidence says evolution is cruel and wasteful, not intelligent [Pinker]
7514 Intelligent Design says that every unexplained phenomenon must be design, by default [Pinker]