89 ideas
| 17016 | Philosophy must abstract from the senses [Newton] |
| 16241 | The metaphysics of nature should focus on physics [Maudlin] |
| 16257 | Kant survives in seeing metaphysics as analysing our conceptual system, which is a priori [Maudlin] |
| 16276 | Wide metaphysical possibility may reduce metaphysics to analysis of fantasies [Maudlin] |
| 16244 | If the universe is profligate, the Razor leads us astray [Maudlin] |
| 16255 | The Razor rightly prefers one cause of multiple events to coincidences of causes [Maudlin] |
| 18079 | Newton developed a kinematic approach to geometry [Newton, by Kitcher] |
| 13152 | We can talk of 'innumerable number', about the infinite points on a line [Newton] |
| 13151 | Not all infinites are equal [Newton] |
| 18082 | Quantities and ratios which continually converge will eventually become equal [Newton] |
| 17783 | A number is not a multitude, but a unified ratio between quantities [Newton] |
| 16243 | The Humean view is wrong; laws and direction of time are primitive, and atoms are decided by physics [Maudlin] |
| 16271 | Lewis says it supervenes on the Mosaic, but actually thinks the Mosaic is all there is [Maudlin] |
| 16273 | If the Humean Mosaic is ontological bedrock, there can be no explanation of its structure [Maudlin] |
| 16275 | The 'spinning disc' is just impossible, because there cannot be 'homogeneous matter' [Maudlin] |
| 16258 | To get an ontology from ontological commitment, just add that some theory is actually true [Maudlin] |
| 16259 | Naïve translation from natural to formal language can hide or multiply the ontology [Maudlin] |
| 16253 | A property is fundamental if two objects can differ in only that respect [Maudlin] |
| 16263 | Fundamental physics seems to suggest there are no such things as properties [Maudlin] |
| 17011 | I suspect that each particle of bodies has attractive or repelling forces [Newton] |
| 16260 | Existence of universals may just be decided by acceptance, or not, of second-order logic [Maudlin] |
| 17028 | Particles mutually attract, and cohere at short distances [Newton] |
| 17014 | The place of a thing is the sum of the places of its parts [Newton] |
| 16277 | Logically impossible is metaphysically impossible, but logically possible is not metaphysically possible [Maudlin] |
| 16249 | A counterfactual antecedent commands the redescription of a selected moment [Maudlin] |
| 23551 | It is necessary for a belief that it be held for a length of time [Fricker,M] |
| 23558 | Offering knowledge needs accuracy and sincerity; receiving it needs testimonial justice [Fricker,M] |
| 23550 | Burge says we are normally a priori entitled to believe testimony [Fricker,M] |
| 23552 | We assess testimonial probabilities by the speaker, the listener, the facts, and the circumstances [Fricker,M] |
| 23553 | Testimonial judgement is not logical, but produces reasons and motivations [Fricker,M] |
| 23555 | Assessing credibility involves the impact of both the speaker's and the listener's social identity [Fricker,M] |
| 17546 | If you changed one of Newton's concepts you would destroy his whole system [Heisenberg on Newton] |
| 17027 | Science deduces propositions from phenomena, and generalises them by induction [Newton] |
| 16254 | Induction leaps into the unknown, but usually lands safely [Maudlin] |
| 16245 | Laws should help explain the things they govern, or that manifest them [Maudlin] |
| 17022 | We should admit only enough causes to explain a phenomenon, and no more [Newton] |
| 17021 | Natural effects of the same kind should be assumed to have the same causes [Newton] |
| 17026 | From the phenomena, I can't deduce the reason for the properties of gravity [Newton] |
| 23554 | Judgements can be unreflective and non-inferential, yet rational, by being sensitive to experience [Fricker,M] |
| 23557 | To judge agents in remote times and cultures we need a moral resentment weaker than blame [Fricker,M] |
| 6421 | Newton's four fundamentals are: space, time, matter and force [Newton, by Russell] |
| 13470 | Mass is central to matter [Newton, by Hart,WD] |
| 17020 | An attraction of a body is the sum of the forces of their particles [Newton] |
| 23012 | Newtonian causation is changes of motion resulting from collisions [Newton, by Baron/Miller] |
| 16248 | Evaluating counterfactuals involves context and interests [Maudlin] |
| 16250 | We don't pick a similar world from many - we construct one possibility from the description [Maudlin] |
| 16268 | The counterfactual is ruined if some other cause steps in when the antecedent fails [Maudlin] |
| 16267 | If we know the cause of an event, we seem to assent to the counterfactual [Maudlin] |
| 16269 | If the effect hadn't occurred the cause wouldn't have happened, so counterfactuals are two-way [Maudlin] |
| 16247 | Laws are primitive, so two indiscernible worlds could have the same laws [Maudlin] |
| 16272 | Fundamental laws say how nature will, or might, evolve from some initial state [Maudlin] |
| 15863 | The principles of my treatise are designed to fit with a belief in God [Newton] |
| 16746 | Principles of things are not hidden features of forms, but the laws by which they were formed [Newton] |
| 16242 | Laws of nature are ontological bedrock, and beyond analysis [Maudlin] |
| 8340 | I do not pretend to know the cause of gravity [Newton] |
| 16251 | 'Humans with prime house numbers are mortal' is not a law, because not a natural kind [Maudlin] |
| 16270 | If laws are just regularities, then there have to be laws [Maudlin] |
| 17008 | You have discovered that elliptical orbits result just from gravitation and planetary movement [Newton, by Leibniz] |
| 17010 | We have given up substantial forms, and now aim for mathematical laws [Newton] |
| 17023 | I am not saying gravity is essential to bodies [Newton] |
| 17009 | I won't object if someone shows that gravity consistently arises from the action of matter [Newton] |
| 13150 | The motions of the planets could only derive from an intelligent agent [Newton] |
| 12178 | That gravity should be innate and essential to matter is absurd [Newton] |
| 15866 | Newton reclassified vertical motion as violent, and unconstrained horizontal motion as natural [Newton, by Harré] |
| 15958 | Inertia rejects the Aristotelian idea of things having natural states, to which they return [Newton, by Alexander,P] |
| 17017 | 1: Bodies rest, or move in straight lines, unless acted on by forces [Newton] |
| 17018 | 2: Change of motion is proportional to the force [Newton] |
| 17019 | 3: All actions of bodies have an equal and opposite reaction [Newton] |
| 20968 | Newton's Third Law implies the conservation of momentum [Newton, by Papineau] |
| 17547 | Newton's idea of force acting over a long distance was very strange [Heisenberg on Newton] |
| 20966 | Newton introduced forces other than by contact [Newton, by Papineau] |
| 20967 | Newton's laws cover the effects of forces, but not their causes [Newton, by Papineau] |
| 16708 | Newton's forces were accused of being the scholastics' real qualities [Pasnau on Newton] |
| 13153 | I am studying the quantities and mathematics of forces, not their species or qualities [Newton] |
| 12724 | The aim is to discover forces from motions, and use forces to demonstrate other phenomena [Newton] |
| 13593 | Newton showed that falling to earth and orbiting the sun are essentially the same [Newton, by Ellis] |
| 20969 | Early Newtonians could not formulate conservation of energy, having no concept of potential energy [Newton, by Papineau] |
| 17013 | Absolute space is independent, homogeneous and immovable [Newton] |
| 22915 | Newton needs intervals of time, to define velocity and acceleration [Newton, by Le Poidevin] |
| 22893 | Newton thought his laws of motion needed absolute time [Newton, by Bardon] |
| 17012 | Time exists independently, and flows uniformly [Newton] |
| 14012 | Absolute time, from its own nature, flows equably, without relation to anything external [Newton] |
| 16264 | I believe the passing of time is a fundamental fact about the world [Maudlin] |
| 16265 | If time passes, presumably it passes at one second per second [Maudlin] |
| 16266 | There is one ordered B series, but an infinitude of A series, depending on when the present is [Maudlin] |
| 22954 | Newtonian mechanics does not distinguish negative from positive values of time [Newton, by Coveney/Highfield] |
| 17015 | If there is no uniform motion, we cannot exactly measure time [Newton] |
| 17025 | If a perfect being does not rule the cosmos, it is not God [Newton] |
| 17024 | The elegance of the solar system requires a powerful intellect as designer [Newton] |