Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for B Hale / C Wright, Robert Hanna and Simone Weil

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191 ideas

1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 2. Ancient Philosophy / c. Classical philosophy
Among the Greeks Aristotle is the only philosopher in the modern style [Weil]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined
All thought about values is philosophical, and thought about anything else is not philosophy [Weil]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / b. Philosophy as transcendent
Philosophy aims to change the soul, not to accumulate knowledge [Weil]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 3. Metaphysical Systems
Systems are not unique to each philosopher. The platonist tradition is old and continuous [Weil]
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 6. Logical Analysis
Frege's logical approach dominates the analytical tradition [Hanna]
1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 3. Scientism
Scientism says most knowledge comes from the exact sciences [Hanna]
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 1. Fallacy
'Denying the antecedent' fallacy: φ→ψ, ¬φ, so ¬ψ [Hanna]
We can list at least fourteen informal fallacies [Hanna]
'Affirming the consequent' fallacy: φ→ψ, ψ, so φ [Hanna]
It is a fallacy to explain the obscure with the even more obscure [Hale/Wright]
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 4. Circularity
Circular arguments are formally valid, though informally inadmissible [Hanna]
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 5. Fallacy of Composition
Formally, composition and division fallacies occur in mereology [Hanna]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 1. Truth
Truth is a value of thought [Weil]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 3. Value of Truth
We seek truth only because it is good [Weil]
Most people won't question an idea's truth if they depend on it [Weil]
Truth is not a object we love - it is the radiant manifestation of reality [Weil]
Genius and love of truth are always accompanied by great humility [Weil]
5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 4. Pure Logic
Logic is personal and variable, but it has a universal core [Hanna]
Logic is explanatorily and ontologically dependent on rational animals [Hanna]
5. Theory of Logic / B. Logical Consequence / 1. Logical Consequence
Intensional consequence is based on the content of the concepts [Hanna]
5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / d. Singular terms
Singular terms refer if they make certain atomic statements true [Hale/Wright]
5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 6. Paradoxes in Language / c. Grelling's paradox
If 'x is heterological' iff it does not apply to itself, then 'heterological' is heterological if it isn't heterological [Hale/Wright]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 4. Axioms for Number / g. Incompleteness of Arithmetic
The incompletability of formal arithmetic reveals that logic also cannot be completely characterized [Hale/Wright]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / d. Hume's Principle
Neo-logicism founds arithmetic on Hume's Principle along with second-order logic [Hale/Wright]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / e. Caesar problem
The Julius Caesar problem asks for a criterion for the concept of a 'number' [Hale/Wright]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 7. Mathematical Structuralism / e. Structuralism critique
If structures are relative, this undermines truth-value and objectivity [Hale/Wright]
The structural view of numbers doesn't fit their usage outside arithmetical contexts [Hale/Wright]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 6. Logicism / a. Early logicism
Logicism is only noteworthy if logic has a privileged position in our ontology and epistemology [Hale/Wright]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 6. Logicism / c. Neo-logicism
The neo-Fregean is more optimistic than Frege about contextual definitions of numbers [Hale/Wright]
Logicism might also be revived with a quantificational approach, or an abstraction-free approach [Hale/Wright]
Neo-Fregeanism might be better with truth-makers, rather than quantifier commitment [Hale/Wright]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 6. Logicism / d. Logicism critique
Are neo-Fregeans 'maximalists' - that everything which can exist does exist? [Hale/Wright]
Logicism struggles because there is no decent theory of analyticity [Hanna]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence
The criterion of the real is contradictions [Weil]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 1. Grounding / a. Nature of grounding
Creation produced a network or web of determinations [Weil]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 5. Supervenience / b. Types of supervenience
Supervenience can add covariation, upward dependence, and nomological connection [Hanna]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / a. Ontological commitment
The identity of Pegasus with Pegasus may be true, despite the non-existence [Hale/Wright]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 3. Types of Properties
Maybe we have abundant properties for semantics, and sparse properties for ontology [Hale/Wright]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 10. Properties as Predicates
A successful predicate guarantees the existence of a property - the way of being it expresses [Hale/Wright]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 2. Abstract Objects / c. Modern abstracta
Objects just are what singular terms refer to [Hale/Wright]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 2. Nature of Necessity
A sentence is necessary if it is true in a set of worlds, and nonfalse in the other worlds [Hanna]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 5. Metaphysical Necessity
Metaphysical necessity can be 'weak' (same as logical) and 'strong' (based on essences) [Hanna]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 6. Logical Necessity
Logical necessity is truth in all logically possible worlds, because of laws and concepts [Hanna]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 7. Natural Necessity
Nomological necessity is truth in all logically possible worlds with our laws [Hanna]
10. Modality / B. Possibility / 7. Chance
Chance is compatible with necessity, and the two occur together [Weil]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 3. Value of Knowledge
Wanting new discoveries blocks good thinking about what has been discovered [Weil]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / c. Aim of beliefs
Don't reject opinions; arrange them all in a hierarchy [Weil]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 7. Knowledge First
Knowledge is beyond question, as an unavoidable component of thinking [Weil]
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 2. Intuition
Intuition includes apriority, clarity, modality, authority, fallibility and no inferences [Hanna]
Intuition is more like memory, imagination or understanding, than like perception [Hanna]
Intuition is only outside the 'space of reasons' if all reasons are inferential [Hanna]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / j. Explanations by reduction
Explanatory reduction is stronger than ontological reduction [Hanna]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 2. Imagination
Imagination grasps abstracta, generates images, and has its own correctness conditions [Hanna]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / a. Self needs body
What is sacred is not a person, but the whole physical human being [Weil]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 6. Determinism / b. Fate
We must be obedient, and love necessity [Weil]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 1. Thought
Should we take the 'depictivist' or the 'descriptivist/propositionalist' view of mental imagery? [Hanna]
The mind is imprisoned and limited by language, restricting our awareness of wider thoughts [Weil]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / c. Role of emotions
Higher emotions have less energy, and actions may need the lower emotions [Weil]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / a. Rationality
Humean Instrumental rationality is the capacity to seek contingent truths [Hanna]
One tradition says talking is the essence of rationality; the other says the essence is logic [Hanna]
Hegelian holistic rationality is the capacity to seek coherence [Hanna]
Kantian principled rationality is recognition of a priori universal truths [Hanna]
Rational animals have a normative concept of necessity [Hanna]
18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 1. Psychology
Most psychologists are now cognitivists [Hanna]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence
Abstracted objects are not mental creations, but depend on equivalence between given entities [Hale/Wright]
One first-order abstraction principle is Frege's definition of 'direction' in terms of parallel lines [Hale/Wright]
Abstractionism needs existential commitment and uniform truth-conditions [Hale/Wright]
Equivalence abstraction refers to objects otherwise beyond our grasp [Hale/Wright]
19. Language / B. Reference / 4. Descriptive Reference / a. Sense and reference
Reference needs truth as well as sense [Hale/Wright]
19. Language / E. Analyticity / 2. Analytic Truths
Many conceptual truths ('yellow is extended') are not analytic, as derived from logic and definitions [Hale/Wright]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / d. Weakness of will
Weakness of will is the inadequacy of the original impetus to carry through the action [Weil]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason
What matters about an action is not its aim, but the origin of its compulsion [Weil]
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 4. Beauty
The secret of art is that beauty is a just blend of unity and its opposite [Weil]
The aesthete's treatment of beauty as amusement is sacreligious; beauty should nourish [Weil]
We both desire what is beautiful, and want it to remain as it is [Weil]
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 6. The Sublime
Beauty is an attractive mystery, leaving nothing to be desired [Weil]
21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 1. Defining Art
Art (like philosophy) establishes a relation between world and self, and between oneself and others [Weil]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 1. Artistic Intentions
Perfect works of art seem to be essentially anonymous [Weil]
When we admire a work, we see ourselves as its creator [Weil]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
Those who say immorality is not an aesthetic criterion must show that all criteria are aesthetic [Weil]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / a. Idealistic ethics
Beauty, goodness and truth are only achieved by applying full attention [Weil]
Every human yearns for an unattainable transcendent good [Weil]
Beauty is the proof of what is good [Weil]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty [Weil]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / j. Ethics by convention
In a violent moral disagreement, it can't be that both sides are just following social morality [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / a. Nature of value
We want our values to be eternal [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / e. Means and ends
Power and money are supreme means, thus blinding people to ends [Weil]
Ends, unlike means, cannot be defined, which is why people tend to pursue means [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / f. Ultimate value
All we need are the unity of justice, truth and beauty [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / a. Normativity
Minds essentially and always strive towards value [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / c. Life
The sacred in every human is their expectation of good rather than evil [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / e. Death
We need love to have a good death [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / g. Love
We should never desire the immortality of the people we love [Weil]
Everything which originates in love is beautiful [Weil]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / j. Evil
Evil is transmitted by comforts and pleasures, but mostly by doing harm to people [Weil]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / a. Form of the Good
If we focus on the good, our whole soul is drawn towards it [Weil]
There are two goods - the absolute good we want, and the reachable opposite of evil [Weil]
The good is a nothingness, and yet real [Weil]
23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 1. Ethical Egoism
Morality would improve if people could pursue private interests [Weil]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 2. Golden Rule
Loving others as ourselves implies varied love, and varied suffering [Weil]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / e. Character
We see our character as a restricting limit, but also as an unshakable support [Weil]
We don't see character in a single moment, but only over a period of time [Weil]
The concept of character is at the centre of morality [Weil]
We modify our character by placing ourselves in situations, or by attending to what seems trivial [Weil]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / h. Right feelings
We should only perform the good actions which we can't help doing [Weil]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / h. Respect
Respect is our only obligation, which can only be expressed through deeds, not words [Weil]
We cannot equally respect what is unequal, so equal respect needs a shared ground [Weil]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / d. Friendship
Friendship is a virtue, not a state we should dream of [Weil]
Friendship is partly universal - the love of a person is like the ideal of loving everyone [Weil]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 2. Nihilism
It is absurd to say that evil proves life is worthless. If it were, why would evil matter? [Weil]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
Monotony is beautiful as a reflection of eternity, or atrocious as unvarying perpetuity [Weil]
Life needs risks to avoid sickly boredom [Weil]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / b. The natural life
The most important human need is to have multiple roots [Weil]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / c. A unified people
The need for order stands above all others, and is understood via the other needs [Weil]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / c. Natural rights
Obligations only bind individuals, not collectives [Weil]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / a. Sovereignty
Obedience to an illegitimate ruler is a nightmare [Weil]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship
A citizen is defined by their subjection to the laws [Weil]
Even the poorest should feel collective ownership, and participation in grand display [Weil]
We all need to partipate in public tasks, and take some initiative [Weil]
A citizen should be able to understand the whole of society [Weil]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 5. Culture
Culture is an instrument for creating an ongoing succession of teachers [Weil]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 1. Social Power
People in power always try to increase their power [Weil]
In oppressive societies the scope of actual control is extended by a religion of power [Weil]
Force is what turns man into a thing, and ultimately into a corpse [Weil]
Social order is equilibrium of forces, which must be corrected when imbalanced [Weil]
There is no oppression, or oppressive class; there is only an oppressive society [Weil]
The essence of power is illusory prestige [Weil]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / b. Monarchy
A lifelong head of society should only be a symbol, not a ruler [Weil]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 4. Changing the State / a. Centralisation
No central authority can initiate decentralisation [Weil]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 4. Changing the State / c. Revolution
Spontaneous movements are powerless against organised repression [Weil]
After a bloody revolution the group which already had the power comes to the fore [Weil]
Atheistic materialism must be revolutionary, because its good is in the future [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 1. Ideology
A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 2. Anarchism
Decentralisation is only possible by co-operation between strong and weak - which is absurd [Weil]
Anarchists thought (hopelessly) that empowering the oppressed would end evil [Weil]
Our only social duty is to try to limit evil [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 3. Conservatism
National leaders want to preserve necessary order - but always the existing order [Weil]
We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / f. Against democracy
Party politics in a democracy can't avoid an anti-democratic party [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / a. Liberalism basics
True democracy is the subordination of society to the individual [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / b. Liberal individualism
Only individual people of good will can achieve social progress [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / d. Liberal freedom
In the least evil societies people can think, control community life, and be autonomous [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 8. Socialism
Socialism tends to make a proletariat of the whole population [Weil]
It is not more money which the wretched members of society need [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 9. Communism
The collective is the one and only object of false idolatry [Weil]
The problem of the collective is not suppression of persons, but persons erasing themselves [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 11. Capitalism
Marx showed that capitalist oppression, because of competition, is unstoppable [Weil]
Once money is the main aim, society needs everyone to think wealth is possible [Weil]
The capitalists neglect the people and the nation, and even their own interests [Weil]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 14. Nationalism
National prestige consists of behaving as if you could beat the others in a war [Weil]
Charity is the only love, and you can feel that for a country (a place with traditions), but not a nation [Weil]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
The pleasure of completing tasks motivates just as well as the whip of slavery [Weil]
If effort is from necessity rather than for a good, it is slavery [Weil]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 3. Free speech
Deliberate public lying should be punished [Weil]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 6. Political freedom
We have liberty in the space between nature and accepted authority [Weil]
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 1. Grounds of equality
Relationships depend on equality, so unequal treatment kills them [Weil]
By making money the sole human measure, inequality has become universal [Weil]
People absurdly claim an equal share of things which are essentially privileged [Weil]
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 4. Economic equality
Inequality could easily be mitigated, if it were not for the struggle for power [Weil]
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
People have duties, and only have rights because of the obligations of others to them [Weil]
Giving centrality to rights stifles all impulses of charity [Weil]
Rights are asserted contentiously, and need the backing of force [Weil]
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights
People need personal and collective property, and a social class lacking property is shameful [Weil]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice
The spirit of justice needs the full attention of truth, and that attention is love [Weil]
Justice (concerning harm) is distinct from rights (concerning inequality) [Weil]
Only people who understand force, and don't respect it, are capable of justice [Weil]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / a. Right to punish
To punish people we must ourselves be innocent - but that undermines the desire to punish [Weil]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / d. Reform of offenders
The only thing in society worse than crime is repressive justice [Weil]
Crime should be punished, to bring the perpetrator freely back to morality [Weil]
Punishment aims at the good for men who don't desire it [Weil]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / a. Just wars
Modern wars are fought in the name of empty words which are given capital letters [Weil]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / b. Justice in war
When war was a profession, customary morality justified any act of war [Weil]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / d. Non-combatants
The soldier-civilian distinction should be abolished; every citizen is committed to a war [Weil]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / e. Peace
War is perpetuated by its continual preparations [Weil]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / a. Aims of education
Education is essentially motivation [Weil]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / d. Study of history
Dividing history books into separate chapters is disastrous [Weil]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 4. Suicide
Even if a drowning man is doomed, he should keep swimming to the last [Weil]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / a. Experience of time
The past is known to us but unreachable - a perfect image of eternal, supernatural reality [Weil]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / c. God is the good
Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil]
The only choice is between supernatural good, or evil [Weil]
28. God / B. Proving God / 1. Proof of God
My love makes me believe in God; the inconceivability of this God makes me disbelieve [Weil]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof
The only legitimate proof of God by order derives from beauty [Weil]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 5. Bible
The cruelty of the Old Testament put me off Christianity [Weil]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / a. Religious Belief
We must leave on one side the ordinary 'consolations' of religion [Weil]
Revolution (not religion) is the opium of the people [Weil]
Religion should quietly suffuse all human life with its light [Weil]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality
I attach little importance to immortality, which is an undecidable fact, and irrelevant to us [Weil]
We just see immortality as prolongation of life, making death meaningless [Weil]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / b. Soul
The soul is the intrinsic value of a human [Weil]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / b. Human Evil
If the world lacked evil, then the evil would be in our desires, which would be worse [Weil]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / d. Natural Evil
Without worldly affliction, we'd think this is paradise [Weil]