Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Jacques Lenfant, Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) and Steven Pinker

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26 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
7278 Words of wisdom are precise and clear [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
7281 Don't even start, let's just stay put [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic
7282 Disagreement means you do not understand at all [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 3. Eristic
7284 If you beat me in argument, does that mean you are right? [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 2. Reduction
7508 Good reductionism connects fields of knowledge, but doesn't replace one with another [Pinker]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 4. Powers as Essence
12750 The question is whether force is self-sufficient in bodies, and essential, or dependent on something [Lenfant]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 1. Knowledge
7289 Do not try to do things, or to master knowledge; just be empty [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
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 / 5. Dream Scepticism
23403 You know you were dreaming when you wake, but there might then be a greater awakening from that [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
7285 Did Chuang Tzu dream he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dream he was Chuang Tzu? [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self
7277 The perfect man has no self [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
7286 To see with true clarity, your self must be irrelevant [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
7509 Roundworms live successfully with 302 neurons, so human freedom comes from our trillions [Pinker]
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]
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 10. Denial of Meanings
7279 If words can't be defined, they may just be the chirruping of chicks [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
19. Language / D. Propositions / 4. Mental Propositions
23404 Words are for meaning, and once you have that you can forget the words [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
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]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / d. Courage
7283 Great courage is not violent [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
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]
7280 As all life is one, what need is there for words? [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
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]
29. Religion / C. Spiritual Disciplines / 2. Taoism
7288 Go with the flow, and be one with the void of Heaven [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
7287 Fish forget about each other in the pond and forget each other in the Tao [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]