64 ideas
7490 | Because of Darwin, wisdom as a definite attainable state has faded [Watson] |
7461 | The three key ideas are the soul, Europe, and the experiment [Watson] |
7464 | The big idea: imitation, the soul, experiments, God, heliocentric universe, evolution? [Watson] |
6887 | Linguistic philosophy approaches problems by attending to actual linguistic usage [Mautner] |
6881 | Analytic philosophy studies the unimportant, and sharpens tools instead of using them [Mautner] |
5439 | The 'hermeneutic circle' says parts and wholes are interdependent, and so cannot be interpreted [Mautner] |
9959 | 'Real' definitions give the essential properties of things under a concept [Mautner] |
9961 | 'Contextual definitions' replace whole statements, not just expressions [Mautner] |
9958 | Recursive definition defines each instance from a previous instance [Mautner] |
9960 | A stipulative definition lays down that an expression is to have a certain meaning [Mautner] |
9957 | Ostensive definitions point to an object which an expression denotes [Mautner] |
7465 | Babylonian thinking used analogy, rather than deduction or induction [Watson] |
6219 | The fallacy of composition is the assumption that what is true of the parts is true of the whole [Mautner] |
6888 | Fuzzy logic is based on the notion that there can be membership of a set to some degree [Mautner] |
6877 | Entailment is logical requirement; it may be not(p and not-q), but that has problems [Mautner] |
6880 | Strict implication says false propositions imply everything, and everything implies true propositions [Mautner] |
6879 | 'Material implication' is defined as 'not(p and not-q)', but seems to imply a connection between p and q [Mautner] |
6878 | A person who 'infers' draws the conclusion, but a person who 'implies' leaves it to the audience [Mautner] |
6889 | Vagueness seems to be inconsistent with the view that every proposition is true or false [Mautner] |
6890 | Quantifiers turn an open sentence into one to which a truth-value can be assigned [Mautner] |
7466 | Mesopotamian numbers applied to specific things, and then became abstract [Watson] |
6882 | Counterfactuals presuppose a belief (or a fact) that the condition is false [Mautner] |
6886 | Counterfactuals are not true, they are merely valid [Mautner] |
6885 | Counterfactuals are true if in every world close to actual where p is the case, q is also the case [Mautner] |
6884 | Counterfactuals say 'If it had been, or were, p, then it would be q' [Mautner] |
6883 | Maybe counterfactuals are only true if they contain valid inference from premisses [Mautner] |
5449 | Essentialism is often identified with belief in 'de re' necessary truths [Mautner] |
6898 | Fallibilism is the view that all knowledge-claims are provisional [Mautner] |
6452 | 'Sense-data' arrived in 1910, but it denotes ideas in Locke, Berkeley and Hume [Mautner] |
4783 | Observing lots of green x can confirm 'all x are green' or 'all x are grue', where 'grue' is arbitrary [Mautner, by PG] |
4782 | 'All x are y' is equivalent to 'all non-y are non-x', so observing paper is white confirms 'ravens are black' [Mautner, by PG] |
20657 | There are 23 core brain functions, with known circuit, transmitters, genes and behaviour [Watson] |
20656 | Traditional ideas of the mind were weakened in the 1950s by mind-influencing drugs [Watson] |
6899 | The references of indexicals ('there', 'now', 'I') depend on the circumstances of utterance [Mautner] |
6896 | Double effect is the distinction between what is foreseen and what is intended [Mautner] |
6897 | Double effect acts need goodness, unintended evil, good not caused by evil, and outweighing [Mautner] |
5452 | 'Essentialism' is opposed to existentialism, and claims there is a human nature [Mautner] |
20655 | Humans have been hunter-gatherers for 99.5% of their existence [Watson] |
7477 | Modern democracy is actually elective oligarchy [Watson] |
7478 | Greek philosophers invented the concept of 'nature' as their special subject [Watson] |
8326 | Science has shown that causal relations are just transfers of energy or momentum [Fair, by Sosa/Tooley] |
10379 | Fair shifted his view to talk of counterfactuals about energy flow [Fair, by Schaffer,J] |
20650 | The Uncertainty Principle implies that cause and effect can't be measured [Watson] |
20649 | The interference of light through two slits confirmed that it is waves [Watson] |
20661 | Electrons rotate in hyrogen atoms 10^13 times per second [Watson] |
20647 | Quantum theory explains why nature is made up of units, such as elements [Watson] |
20654 | Only four particles are needed for matter: up and down quark, electron, electron-neutrino [Watson] |
20651 | The shape of molecules is important, as well as the atoms and their bonds [Watson] |
20652 | In 1828 the animal substance urea was manufactured from inorganic ingredients [Watson] |
20658 | Information is physical, and living can be seen as replicating and preserving information [Watson] |
7462 | DNA mutation suggests humans and chimpanzees diverged 6.6 million years ago [Watson] |
7470 | During the rise of civilizations, the main gods changed from female to male [Watson] |
7474 | Hinduism has no founder, or prophet, or creed, or ecclesiastical structure [Watson] |
7480 | Monotheism was a uniquely Israelite creation within the Middle East [Watson] |
7479 | Modern Judaism became stabilised in 200 CE [Watson] |
7481 | The Israelites may have asserted the uniqueness of Yahweh to justify land claims [Watson] |
7471 | The Gathas (hymns) of Zoroastrianism date from about 1000 BCE [Watson] |
7473 | Zoroaster conceived the afterlife, judgement, heaven and hell, and the devil [Watson] |
7484 | Jesus never intended to start a new religion [Watson] |
7483 | Paul's early writings mention few striking episodes from Jesus' life [Watson] |
7475 | Confucius revered the spiritual world, but not the supernatural, or a personal god, or the afterlife [Watson] |
7476 | Taoism aims at freedom from the world, the body, the mind, and nature [Watson] |
7463 | The three basic ingredients of religion are: the soul, seers or priests, and ritual [Watson] |
7468 | In ancient Athens the souls of the dead are received by the 'upper air' [Watson] |