808 ideas
12644 | Who cares what 'philosophy' is? Most pre-1950 thought doesn't now count as philosophy [Fodor] |
9438 | Maybe analysis seeks the 'nominal essence', and metaphysics seeks the 'real essence' [Locke, by Mumford] |
7653 | I am just an under-labourer, clearing the ground in preparation for knowledge [Locke] |
13876 | The syntactic category is primary, and the ontological category is derivative [Frege, by Wright,C] |
12633 | Definitions often give necessary but not sufficient conditions for an extension [Fodor] |
8415 | Never lose sight of the distinction between concept and object [Frege] |
2474 | It seems likely that analysis of concepts is impossible, but justification can survive without it [Fodor] |
9841 | Frege was the first to give linguistic answers to non-linguistic questions [Frege, by Dummett] |
9840 | Frege initiated linguistic philosophy, studying number through the sense of sentences [Frege, by Dummett] |
22270 | Frege changed philosophy by extending logic's ability to check the grounds of thinking [Potter on Frege] |
15948 | Frege developed formal systems to avoid unnoticed assumptions [Frege, by Lavine] |
2481 | Despite all the efforts of philosophers, nothing can ever be reduced to anything [Fodor] |
10804 | Thoughts have a natural order, to which human thinking is drawn [Frege, by Yablo] |
9832 | Frege sees no 'intersubjective' category, between objective and subjective [Dummett on Frege] |
8414 | Keep the psychological and subjective separate from the logical and objective [Frege] |
7740 | There exists a realm, beyond objects and ideas, of non-spatio-temporal thoughts [Frege, by Weiner] |
12526 | Opposition to reason is mad [Locke] |
2505 | Turing invented the idea of mechanical rationality (just based on syntax) [Fodor] |
2463 | A standard naturalist view is realist, externalist, and computationalist, and believes in rationality [Fodor] |
8939 | We should not describe human laws of thought, but how to correctly track truth [Frege, by Fisher] |
9821 | A definition need not capture the sense of an expression - just get the reference right [Frege, by Dummett] |
13886 | Later Frege held that definitions must fix a function's value for every possible argument [Frege, by Wright,C] |
16877 | A 'constructive' (as opposed to 'analytic') definition creates a new sign [Frege] |
12538 | Genus is a partial conception of species, and species a partial idea of individuals [Locke] |
16797 | Maybe Locke described the real essence of a person [Locke, by Pasnau] |
9844 | Originally Frege liked contextual definitions, but later preferred them fully explicit [Frege, by Dummett] |
9822 | Nothing should be defined in terms of that to which it is conceptually prior [Frege, by Dummett] |
9845 | We can't define a word by defining an expression containing it, as the remaining parts are a problem [Frege] |
11219 | Frege suggested that mathematics should only accept stipulative definitions [Frege, by Gupta] |
10019 | Only what is logically complex can be defined; what is simple must be pointed to [Frege] |
12619 | We have no successful definitions, because they all use indefinable words [Fodor] |
2470 | Transcendental arguments move from knowing Q to knowing P because it depends on Q [Fodor] |
17495 | Proof aims to remove doubts, but also to show the interdependence of truths [Frege] |
16878 | We must be clear about every premise and every law used in a proof [Frege] |
12573 | Ad Hominem: press a man with the consequences of his own principle [Locke] |
12491 | Asking whether man's will is free is liking asking if sleep is fast or virtue is square [Locke] |
8632 | You can't transfer external properties unchanged to apply to ideas [Frege] |
19466 | The word 'true' seems to be unique and indefinable [Frege] |
12549 | Nothing is so beautiful to the eye as truth is to the mind [Locke] |
8187 | Frege was strongly in favour of taking truth to attach to propositions [Frege, by Dummett] |
2435 | Psychology has to include the idea that mental processes are typically truth-preserving [Fodor] |
12558 | Truth only belongs to mental or verbal propositions [Locke] |
12522 | It is propositions which are true or false, though it is sometimes said of ideas [Locke] |
12523 | If they refer to real substances, 'man' is a true idea and 'centaur' a false one [Locke] |
22317 | Truth does not admit of more and less [Frege] |
13881 | We need to grasp not number-objects, but the states of affairs which make number statements true [Frege, by Wright,C] |
19465 | There cannot be complete correspondence, because ideas and reality are quite different [Frege] |
19468 | The property of truth in 'It is true that I smell violets' adds nothing to 'I smell violets' [Frege] |
18806 | Frege thought traditional categories had psychological and linguistic impurities [Frege, by Rumfitt] |
12572 | Many people can reason well, yet can't make a syllogism [Locke] |
8084 | Syllogisms are verbal fencing, not discovery [Locke] |
9154 | Frege agreed with Euclid that the axioms of logic and mathematics are known through self-evidence [Frege, by Burge] |
9585 | Since every definition is an equation, one cannot define equality itself [Frege] |
4971 | I don't use 'subject' and 'predicate' in my way of representing a judgement [Frege] |
17745 | For Frege, 'All A's are B's' means that the concept A implies the concept B [Frege, by Walicki] |
13455 | Frege did not think of himself as working with sets [Frege, by Hart,WD] |
9157 | The null set is only defensible if it is the extension of an empty concept [Frege, by Burge] |
9835 | It is because a concept can be empty that there is such a thing as the empty class [Frege, by Dummett] |
16895 | The null set is indefensible, because it collects nothing [Frege, by Burge] |
14238 | A class is an aggregate of objects; if you destroy them, you destroy the class; there is no empty class [Frege] |
9854 | We can introduce new objects, as equivalence classes of objects already known [Frege, by Dummett] |
9883 | Frege introduced the standard device, of defining logical objects with equivalence classes [Frege, by Dummett] |
18104 | Frege, unlike Russell, has infinite individuals because numbers are individuals [Frege, by Bostock] |
9834 | A class is, for Frege, the extension of a concept [Frege, by Dummett] |
3328 | Frege proposed a realist concept of a set, as the extension of a predicate or concept or function [Frege, by Benardete,JA] |
7728 | Frege has a judgement stroke (vertical, asserting or judging) and a content stroke (horizontal, expressing) [Frege, by Weiner] |
16881 | The laws of logic are boundless, so we want the few whose power contains the others [Frege] |
7622 | In 1879 Frege developed second order logic [Frege, by Putnam] |
9179 | Frege frequently expressed a contempt for language [Frege, by Dummett] |
16867 | Logic not only proves things, but also reveals logical relations between them [Frege] |
2442 | Inferences are surely part of the causal structure of the world [Fodor] |
16863 | Does some mathematical reasoning (such as mathematical induction) not belong to logic? [Frege] |
16862 | The closest subject to logic is mathematics, which does little apart from drawing inferences [Frege] |
13473 | Frege thinks there is an independent logical order of the truths, which we must try to discover [Frege, by Hart,WD] |
10055 | Mathematical proofs work, irrespective of whether the objects exist [Locke] |
7729 | Frege replaced Aristotle's subject/predicate form with function/argument form [Frege, by Weiner] |
8645 | Convert "Jupiter has four moons" into "the number of Jupiter's moons is four" [Frege] |
4975 | A thought can be split in many ways, so that different parts appear as subject or predicate [Frege] |
12664 | A truth-table, not inferential role, defines 'and' [Fodor] |
8490 | First-level functions have objects as arguments; second-level functions take functions as arguments [Frege] |
8492 | Relations are functions with two arguments [Frege] |
3319 | Frege gives a functional account of predication so that we can dispense with predicates [Frege, by Benardete,JA] |
6076 | For Frege, predicates are names of functions that map objects onto the True and False [Frege, by McGinn] |
16891 | Despite Gödel, Frege's epistemic ordering of all the truths is still plausible [Frege, by Burge] |
16906 | The primitive simples of arithmetic are the essence, determining the subject, and its boundaries [Frege, by Jeshion] |
16865 | 'Theorems' are both proved, and used in proofs [Frege] |
18772 | We can treat designation by a few words as a proper name [Frege] |
8447 | In 'Etna is higher than Vesuvius' the whole of Etna, including all the lava, can't be the reference [Frege] |
3005 | 'Jocasta' needs to be distinguished from 'Oedipus's mother' because they are connected by different properties [Fodor] |
12648 | Names in thought afford a primitive way to bring John before the mind [Fodor] |
12650 | 'Paderewski' has two names in mentalese, for his pianist file and his politician file [Fodor] |
10424 | A Fregean proper name has a sense determining an object, instead of a concept [Frege, by Sainsbury] |
18773 | People may have different senses for 'Aristotle', like 'pupil of Plato' or 'teacher of Alexander' [Frege] |
8448 | Any object can have many different names, each with a distinct sense [Frege] |
14075 | Proper name in modal contexts refer obliquely, to their usual sense [Frege, by Gibbard] |
4978 | The meaning of a proper name is the designated object [Frege] |
10510 | Frege ascribes reference to incomplete expressions, as well as to singular terms [Frege, by Hale] |
18937 | If sentences have a 'sense', empty name sentences can be understood that way [Frege, by Sawyer] |
18940 | It is a weakness of natural languages to contain non-denoting names [Frege] |
18939 | In a logically perfect language every well-formed proper name designates an object [Frege] |
13733 | Frege considered definite descriptions to be genuine singular terms [Frege, by Fitting/Mendelsohn] |
9950 | A quantifier is a second-level predicate (which explains how it contributes to truth-conditions) [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
9991 | For Frege the variable ranges over all objects [Frege, by Tait] |
10536 | Frege's domain for variables is all objects, but modern interpretations first fix the domain [Dummett on Frege] |
9871 | Frege always, and fatally, neglected the domain of quantification [Dummett on Frege] |
7730 | Frege introduced quantifiers for generality [Frege, by Weiner] |
7742 | Frege reduced most quantifiers to 'everything' combined with 'not' [Frege, by McCullogh] |
9874 | Contradiction arises from Frege's substitutional account of second-order quantification [Dummett on Frege] |
14236 | Each horse doesn't fall under the concept 'horse that draws the carriage', because all four are needed [Oliver/Smiley on Frege] |
13824 | Proof theory began with Frege's definition of derivability [Frege, by Prawitz] |
13609 | Frege produced axioms for logic, though that does not now seem the natural basis for logic [Frege, by Kaplan] |
16884 | Basic truths of logic are not proved, but seen as true when they are understood [Frege, by Burge] |
9462 | Frege is intensionalist about reference, as it is determined by sense; identity of objects comes first [Frege, by Jacquette] |
18936 | Frege moved from extensional to intensional semantics when he added the idea of 'sense' [Frege, by Sawyer] |
22294 | We can show that a concept is consistent by producing something which falls under it [Frege] |
16886 | The truth of an axiom must be independently recognisable [Frege] |
17624 | To understand axioms you must grasp their logical power and priority [Frege, by Burge] |
16866 | Tracing inference backwards closes in on a small set of axioms and postulates [Frege] |
16868 | The essence of mathematics is the kernel of primitive truths on which it rests [Frege] |
16871 | A truth can be an axiom in one system and not in another [Frege] |
16870 | Axioms are truths which cannot be doubted, and for which no proof is needed [Frege] |
12656 | P-and-Q gets its truth from the truth of P and truth of Q, but consistency isn't like that [Fodor] |
16869 | To create order in mathematics we need a full system, guided by patterns of inference [Frege] |
9886 | Cardinals say how many, and reals give measurements compared to a unit quantity [Frege] |
18256 | Quantity is inconceivable without the idea of addition [Frege] |
8640 | We cannot define numbers from the idea of a series, because numbers must precede that [Frege] |
18252 | Real numbers are ratios of quantities, such as lengths or masses [Frege] |
18253 | I wish to go straight from cardinals to reals (as ratios), leaving out the rationals [Frege] |
9889 | Real numbers are ratios of quantities [Frege, by Dummett] |
9838 | Treating 0 as a number avoids antinomies involving treating 'nobody' as a person [Frege, by Dummett] |
9564 | For Frege 'concept' and 'extension' are primitive, but 'zero' and 'successor' are defined [Frege, by Chihara] |
10551 | If objects exist because they fall under a concept, 0 is the object under which no objects fall [Frege, by Dummett] |
8653 | Nought is the number belonging to the concept 'not identical with itself' [Frege] |
12488 | The idea of 'one' is the simplest, most obvious and most widespread idea [Locke] |
8636 | We can say 'a and b are F' if F is 'wise', but not if it is 'one' [Frege] |
8654 | One is the Number which belongs to the concept "identical with 0" [Frege] |
8641 | You can abstract concepts from the moon, but the number one is not among them [Frege] |
9989 | Units can be equal without being identical [Tait on Frege] |
17429 | Frege says only concepts which isolate and avoid arbitrary division can give units [Frege, by Koslicki] |
17427 | Frege's 'isolation' could be absence of overlap, or drawing conceptual boundaries [Frege, by Koslicki] |
17437 | Non-arbitrary division means that what falls under the concept cannot be divided into more of the same [Frege, by Koslicki] |
17438 | Our concepts decide what is countable, as in seeing the leaves of the tree, or the foliage [Frege, by Koslicki] |
17426 | A concept creating a unit must isolate and unify what falls under it [Frege] |
17428 | Frege says counting is determining what number belongs to a given concept [Frege, by Koslicki] |
15916 | Frege's one-to-one correspondence replaces well-ordering, because infinities can't be counted [Frege, by Lavine] |
17446 | Counting rests on one-one correspondence, of numerals to objects [Frege] |
9582 | Husserl rests sameness of number on one-one correlation, forgetting the correlation with numbers themselves [Frege] |
12489 | If there were real infinities, you could add two together, which is ridiculous [Locke] |
10034 | The number of natural numbers is not a natural number [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
18271 | We can't prove everything, but we can spell out the unproved, so that foundations are clear [Frege] |
16883 | Arithmetical statements can't be axioms, because they are provable [Frege, by Burge] |
16864 | If principles are provable, they are theorems; if not, they are axioms [Frege] |
17855 | It may be possible to define induction in terms of the ancestral relation [Frege, by Wright,C] |
10625 | Frege had a motive to treat numbers as objects, but not a justification [Hale/Wright on Frege] |
13871 | Frege claims that numbers are objects, as opposed to them being Fregean concepts [Frege, by Wright,C] |
13872 | Numbers are second-level, ascribing properties to concepts rather than to objects [Frege, by Wright,C] |
9816 | For Frege, successor was a relation, not a function [Frege, by Dummett] |
9953 | Numbers are more than just 'second-level concepts', since existence is also one [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
9954 | "Number of x's such that ..x.." is a functional expression, yielding a name when completed [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
10139 | Frege gives an incoherent account of extensions resulting from abstraction [Fine,K on Frege] |
10028 | For Frege the number of F's is a collection of first-level concepts [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
17636 | A cardinal number may be defined as a class of similar classes [Frege, by Russell] |
9586 | In a number-statement, something is predicated of a concept [Frege] |
10029 | Numbers need to be objects, to define the extension of the concept of each successor to n [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
9973 | The number of F's is the extension of the second level concept 'is equipollent with F' [Frege, by Tait] |
16500 | Frege showed that numbers attach to concepts, not to objects [Frege, by Wiggins] |
9990 | Frege replaced Cantor's sets as the objects of equinumerosity attributions with concepts [Frege, by Tait] |
7738 | Zero is defined using 'is not self-identical', and one by using the concept of zero [Frege, by Weiner] |
23456 | Frege said logical predication implies classes, which are arithmetical objects [Frege, by Morris,M] |
13887 | Frege started with contextual definition, but then switched to explicit extensional definition [Frege, by Wright,C] |
13897 | Each number, except 0, is the number of the concept of all of its predecessors [Frege, by Wright,C] |
9856 | Frege's account of cardinals fails in modern set theory, so they are now defined differently [Dummett on Frege] |
9902 | Frege's incorrect view is that a number is an equivalence class [Benacerraf on Frege] |
17814 | The natural number n is the set of n-membered sets [Frege, by Yourgrau] |
17819 | A set doesn't have a fixed number, because the elements can be seen in different ways [Yourgrau on Frege] |
17820 | If you can subdivide objects many ways for counting, you can do that to set-elements too [Yourgrau on Frege] |
3331 | If '5' is the set of all sets with five members, that may be circular, and you can know a priori if the set has content [Benardete,JA on Frege] |
9949 | There is the concept, the object falling under it, and the extension (a set, which is also an object) [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
10623 | Frege defined number in terms of extensions of concepts, but needed Basic Law V to explain extensions [Frege, by Hale/Wright] |
10553 | A number is a class of classes of the same cardinality [Frege, by Dummett] |
17460 | A statement of number contains a predication about a concept [Frege] |
16890 | Frege's problem is explaining the particularity of numbers by general laws [Frege, by Burge] |
8630 | Individual numbers are best derived from the number one, and increase by one [Frege] |
11029 | 'Exactly ten gallons' may not mean ten things instantiate 'gallon' [Rumfitt on Frege] |
10013 | Numerical statements have first-order logical form, so must refer to objects [Frege, by Hodes] |
18181 | The Number for F is the extension of 'equal to F' (or maybe just F itself) [Frege] |
18103 | Numbers are objects because they partake in identity statements [Frege, by Bostock] |
9975 | Frege ignored Cantor's warning that a cardinal set is not just a concept-extension [Tait on Frege] |
10020 | Frege's biggest error is in not accounting for the senses of number terms [Hodes on Frege] |
9956 | 'The number of Fs' is the extension (a collection of first-level concepts) of the concept 'equinumerous with F' [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
13527 | Frege's cardinals (equivalences of one-one correspondences) is not permissible in ZFC [Frege, by Wolf,RS] |
22292 | Hume's Principle fails to implicitly define numbers, because of the Julius Caesar [Frege, by Potter] |
17442 | Frege thinks number is fundamentally bound up with one-one correspondence [Frege, by Heck] |
11030 | The words 'There are exactly Julius Caesar moons of Mars' are gibberish [Rumfitt on Frege] |
10030 | 'Julius Caesar' isn't a number because numbers inherit properties of 0 and successor [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
8690 | From within logic, how can we tell whether an arbitrary object like Julius Caesar is a number? [Frege, by Friend] |
10219 | Frege said 2 is the extension of all pairs (so Julius Caesar isn't 2, because he's not an extension) [Frege, by Shapiro] |
13889 | Fregean numbers are numbers, and not 'Caesar', because they correlate 1-1 [Frege, by Wright,C] |
18142 | One-one correlations imply normal arithmetic, but don't explain our concept of a number [Frege, by Bostock] |
9046 | Our definition will not tell us whether or not Julius Caesar is a number [Frege] |
16896 | If numbers can be derived from logic, then set theory is superfluous [Frege, by Burge] |
8639 | If numbers are supposed to be patterns, each number can have many patterns [Frege] |
13874 | Numbers seem to be objects because they exactly fit the inference patterns for identities [Frege] |
13875 | Frege's platonism proposes that objects are what singular terms refer to [Frege, by Wright,C] |
7731 | How can numbers be external (one pair of boots is two boots), or subjective (and so relative)? [Frege, by Weiner] |
7737 | Identities refer to objects, so numbers must be objects [Frege, by Weiner] |
8635 | Numbers are not physical, and not ideas - they are objective and non-sensible [Frege] |
8652 | Numbers are objects, because they can take the definite article, and can't be plurals [Frege] |
9580 | Our concepts recognise existing relations, they don't change them [Frege] |
9589 | Numbers are not real like the sea, but (crucially) they are still objective [Frege] |
12556 | Mathematics is just about ideas, so whether circles exist is irrelevant [Locke] |
17816 | Frege's logicism aimed at removing the reliance of arithmetic on intuition [Frege, by Yourgrau] |
9831 | Geometry appeals to intuition as the source of its axioms [Frege] |
7782 | Every simple idea we ever have brings the idea of unity along with it [Locke] |
8633 | There is no physical difference between two boots and one pair of boots [Frege] |
9577 | The naďve view of number is that it is like a heap of things, or maybe a property of a heap [Frege] |
9951 | It appears that numbers are adjectives, but they don't apply to a single object [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
9952 | Numerical adjectives are of the same second-level type as the existential quantifier [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
11031 | 'Jupiter has many moons' won't read as 'The number of Jupiter's moons equals the number many' [Rumfitt on Frege] |
8637 | The number 'one' can't be a property, if any object can be viewed as one or not one [Frege] |
9999 | For science, we can translate adjectival numbers into noun form [Frege] |
7739 | Arithmetic is analytic [Frege, by Weiner] |
9945 | Logicism shows that no empirical truths are needed to justify arithmetic [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
8782 | Frege offered a Platonist version of logicism, committed to cardinal and real numbers [Frege, by Hale/Wright] |
13608 | Mathematics has no special axioms of its own, but follows from principles of logic (with definitions) [Frege, by Bostock] |
16905 | Arithmetic must be based on logic, because of its total generality [Frege, by Jeshion] |
5658 | Numbers are definable in terms of mapping items which fall under concepts [Frege, by Scruton] |
8655 | Arithmetic is analytic and a priori, and thus it is part of logic [Frege] |
16880 | Frege aimed to discover the logical foundations which justify arithmetical judgements [Frege, by Burge] |
8689 | Eventually Frege tried to found arithmetic in geometry instead of in logic [Frege, by Friend] |
8487 | Arithmetic is a development of logic, so arithmetical symbolism must expand into logical symbolism [Frege] |
18165 | My Basic Law V is a law of pure logic [Frege] |
18166 | The loss of my Rule V seems to make foundations for arithmetic impossible [Frege] |
10607 | Frege's logic has a hierarchy of object, property, property-of-property etc. [Frege, by Smith,P] |
10831 | Frege only managed to prove that arithmetic was analytic with a logic that included set-theory [Quine on Frege] |
13864 | Frege's platonism and logicism are in conflict, if logic must dictates an infinity of objects [Wright,C on Frege] |
10033 | Why should the existence of pure logic entail the existence of objects? [George/Velleman on Frege] |
10010 | Frege's belief in logicism and in numerical objects seem uncomfortable together [Hodes on Frege] |
9545 | Late in life Frege abandoned logicism, and saw the source of arithmetic as geometrical [Frege, by Chihara] |
9631 | Formalism fails to recognise types of symbols, and also meta-games [Frege, by Brown,JR] |
9887 | Formalism misunderstands applications, metatheory, and infinity [Frege, by Dummett] |
8751 | Only applicability raises arithmetic from a game to a science [Frege] |
9875 | Frege was completing Bolzano's work, of expelling intuition from number theory and analysis [Frege, by Dummett] |
8642 | Abstraction from things produces concepts, and numbers are in the concepts [Frege] |
8621 | Mental states are irrelevant to mathematics, because they are vague and fluctuating [Frege] |
11008 | Existence is not a first-order property, but the instantiation of a property [Frege, by Read] |
8643 | Affirmation of existence is just denial of zero [Frege] |
19470 | Thoughts in the 'third realm' cannot be sensed, and do not need an owner to exist [Frege] |
12620 | If 'exist' is ambiguous in 'chairs and numbers exist', that mirrors the difference between chairs and numbers [Fodor] |
5657 | Frege's logic showed that there is no concept of being [Frege, by Scruton] |
8910 | General and universal are not real entities, but useful inventions of the mind, concerning words or ideas [Locke] |
8911 | If abstracta are non-mental, quarks are abstracta, and yet chess and God's thoughts are mental [Rosen on Frege] |
8634 | The equator is imaginary, but not fictitious; thought is needed to recognise it [Frege] |
12554 | Existences can only be known by experience [Locke] |
18899 | Frege takes the existence of horses to be part of their concept [Frege, by Sommers] |
18995 | Frege mistakenly takes existence to be a property of concepts, instead of being about things [Frege, by Yablo] |
17443 | Many of us find Frege's claim that truths depend on one another an obscure idea [Heck on Frege] |
17445 | Parallelism is intuitive, so it is more fundamental than sameness of direction [Frege, by Heck] |
12502 | Comparisons boil down to simple elements of sensation or reflection [Locke] |
10539 | Frege refers to 'concrete' objects, but they are no different in principle from abstract ones [Frege, by Dummett] |
9578 | If objects are just presentation, we get increasing abstraction by ignoring their properties [Frege] |
12568 | God assures me of the existence of external things [Locke] |
19471 | A fact is a thought that is true [Frege] |
12516 | Obscure simple ideas result from poor senses, brief impressions, or poor memory [Locke] |
12517 | Ideas are uncertain when they are unnamed, because too close to other ideas [Locke] |
17431 | Vagueness is incomplete definition [Frege, by Koslicki] |
13879 | For Frege, ontological questions are to be settled by reference to syntactic structures [Frege, by Wright,C] |
10642 | Second-order quantifiers are committed to concepts, as first-order commits to objects [Frege, by Linnebo] |
13435 | We can't categorise things by their real essences, because these are unknown [Locke] |
12535 | If we discovered real essences, we would still categorise things by the external appearance [Locke] |
13436 | There are no gaps in the continuum of nature, and everything has something closely resembling it [Locke] |
10032 | 'Ancestral' relations are derived by iterating back from a given relation [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
10606 | Frege treats properties as a kind of function, and maybe a property is its characteristic function [Frege, by Smith,P] |
2469 | The world is full of messy small things producing stable large-scale properties (e.g. mountains) [Fodor] |
4028 | Frege allows either too few properties (as extensions) or too many (as predicates) [Mellor/Oliver on Frege] |
10317 | It is unclear whether Frege included qualities among his abstract objects [Frege, by Hale] |
7014 | A particle and a coin heads-or-tails pick out to perfectly well-defined predicates and properties [Fodor] |
12477 | We get the idea of power from our own actions, and the interaction of external bodies [Locke] |
12490 | Power is active or passive, and has a relation to actions [Locke] |
12521 | We can only know a thing's powers when we have combined it with many things [Locke] |
15974 | The essence of whiteness in a man is nothing but the power to produce the idea of whiteness [Locke] |
15976 | What is the texture - the real essence - which makes substances behave in distinct ways? [Locke] |
12613 | Empiricists use dispositions reductively, as 'possibility of sensation' or 'possibility of experimental result' [Fodor] |
15983 | Locke explains powers, but effectively eliminates them with his talk of internal structure [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
6487 | Locke, Berkeley and Hume did no serious thinking about universals [Robinson,H on Locke] |
10533 | We can't get a semantics from nouns and predicates referring to the same thing [Frege, by Dummett] |
2475 | Don't define something by a good instance of it; a good example is a special case of the ordinary example [Fodor] |
7717 | All things that exist are particulars [Locke] |
7718 | Universals do not exist, but are useful inventions of the mind, involving words or ideas [Locke] |
12499 | Bodies distinctively have cohesion of parts, and power to communicate motion [Locke] |
8647 | Not all objects are spatial; 4 can still be an object, despite lacking spatial co-ordinates [Frege] |
10309 | Frege says singular terms denote objects, numerals are singular terms, so numbers exist [Frege, by Hale] |
10550 | Frege establishes abstract objects independently from concrete ones, by falling under a concept [Frege, by Dummett] |
18269 | Logical objects are extensions of concepts, or ranges of values of functions [Frege] |
8785 | For Frege, objects just are what singular terms refer to [Frege, by Hale/Wright] |
10278 | Without concepts we would not have any objects [Frege, by Shapiro] |
8489 | The concept 'object' is too simple for analysis; unlike a function, it is an expression with no empty place [Frege] |
10535 | Frege's 'objects' are both the referents of proper names, and what predicates are true or false of [Frege, by Dummett] |
9877 | Late Frege saw his non-actual objective objects as exclusively thoughts and senses [Frege, by Dummett] |
1211 | Viewing an object at an instant, we perceive identity when we see it must be that thing and not another [Locke] |
12508 | Living things retain identity through change, by a principle of organisation [Locke] |
17432 | Frege's universe comes already divided into objects [Frege, by Koslicki] |
12506 | A thing is individuated just by existing at a time and place [Locke] |
12563 | Obviously two bodies cannot be in the same place [Locke] |
12529 | I speak of a 'sortal' name, from the word 'sort' [Locke] |
8546 | Powers are part of our idea of substances [Locke] |
1196 | We can conceive of three sorts of substance: God, finite intelligence, and bodies [Locke] |
12536 | We sort and name substances by nominal and not by real essence [Locke] |
7945 | We think of substance as experienced qualities plus a presumed substratum of support [Locke] |
12485 | We don't know what substance is, and only vaguely know what it does [Locke] |
16796 | Locke may accept coinciding material substances, such as body, man and person [Locke, by Pasnau] |
9891 | The first demand of logic is of a sharp boundary [Frege] |
9388 | Every concept must have a sharp boundary; we cannot allow an indeterminate third case [Frege] |
12507 | A mass consists of its atoms, so the addition or removal of one changes its identity [Locke] |
12559 | Complex ideas are collections of qualities we attach to an unknown substratum [Locke] |
12498 | Particular substances are coexisting ideas that seem to flow from a hidden essence [Locke] |
12520 | The best I can make of real essence is figure, size and connection of solid parts [Locke] |
13771 | Real essence is the constitution of the unknown parts of a body which produce its qualities [Locke] |
16038 | Locke may distinguish real essence from internal constitution, claiming the latter is knowable [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12810 | We can conceive an individual without assigning it to a kind [Locke, by Jolley] |
16786 | You can't distinguish individuals without the species as a standard [Locke] |
15992 | Many individuals grouped under one name vary more than some things that have different names [Locke] |
15990 | Every individual thing which exists has an essence, which is its internal constitution [Locke] |
12530 | The less rational view of essences is that they are moulds for kinds of natural thing [Locke] |
12532 | Even real essence depends on a sort, since it is sorts which have the properties [Locke] |
12539 | If every sort has its real essence, one horse, being many sorts, will have many essences [Locke] |
12510 | Not all identity is unity of substance [Locke] |
11155 | Essence is the very being of any thing, whereby it is what it is [Locke] |
12560 | We can only slightly know necessary co-existence of qualities, if they are primary [Locke] |
16787 | Explanatory essence won't do, because it won't distinguish the accidental from the essential [Locke, by Pasnau] |
16028 | Lockean real essence makes a thing what it is, and produces its observable qualities [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12305 | Locke's essences determine the other properties, so the two will change together [Locke, by Copi] |
15985 | It is impossible for two things with the same real essence to differ in properties [Locke] |
12534 | We cannot know what properties are necessary to gold, unless we first know its real essence [Locke] |
16035 | If we based species on real essences, the individuals would be as indistinguishable as two circles [Locke] |
16036 | Internal constitution doesn't decide a species; should a watch contain four wheels or five? [Locke] |
13434 | In our ideas, the idea of essence is inseparable from the concept of a species [Locke] |
12540 | Artificial things like watches and pistols have distinct kinds [Locke] |
12812 | Things have real essences, but we categorise them according to the ideas we receive [Locke] |
16031 | Real essence explains observable qualities, but not what kind of thing it is [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
15646 | If essence is 'nominal', artificial gold (with its surface features) would qualify as 'gold' [Locke, by Eagle] |
12306 | 'Nominal essence' is everything contained in the idea of a particular sort of thing [Locke, by Copi] |
15988 | The observable qualities are never the real essence, since they depend on real essence [Locke] |
15644 | In nominal essence, Locke confuses the set of properties with the abstracted idea of them [Eagle on Locke] |
12537 | To be a nominal essence, a complex idea must exhibit unity [Locke] |
16029 | Locke's real and nominal essence refers back to Aristotle's real and nominal definitions [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12531 | Nominal Essence is the abstract idea to which a name is attached [Locke] |
13433 | Essences relate to sorting words; if you replace those with names, essences vanish [Locke] |
12533 | Real essences are unknown, so only the nominal essence connects things to a species [Locke] |
12557 | Our ideas of substance are based on mental archetypes, but these come from the world [Locke] |
12561 | For 'all gold is malleable' to be necessary, it must be part of gold's nominal essence [Locke] |
12525 | The essence of a triangle is simple; presumably substance essences are similar [Locke] |
13431 | A space between three lines is both the nominal and real essence of a triangle, the source of its properties [Locke] |
13423 | The schools recognised that they don't really know essences, because they couldn't coin names for them [Locke] |
12804 | There are no independent natural kinds - or our classifications have to be subjective [Locke, by Jolley] |
12547 | We know five properties of gold, but cannot use four of them to predict the fifth one [Locke] |
12503 | Identity means that the idea of a thing remains the same over time [Locke] |
12505 | One thing cannot have two beginnings of existence, nor two things one beginning [Locke] |
16022 | The idea of a criterion of identity was introduced by Frege [Frege, by Noonan] |
11100 | Frege's algorithm of identity is the law of putting equals for equals [Frege, by Quine] |
4893 | Frege was asking how identities could be informative [Frege, by Perry] |
16795 | Same person, man or substance are different identities, belonging to different ideas [Locke] |
12153 | Geach denies Frege's view, that 'being the same F' splits into being the same and being F [Perry on Frege] |
3318 | Frege made identity a logical notion, enshrined above all in the formula 'for all x, x=x' [Frege, by Benardete,JA] |
12504 | Two things can't occupy one place and time, which leads us to the idea of self-identity [Locke] |
9853 | Identity between objects is not a consequence of identity, but part of what 'identity' means [Frege, by Dummett] |
12653 | There's statistical, logical, nomological, conceptual and metaphysical possibility [Fodor] |
12553 | Some of our ideas contain relations which we cannot conceive to be absent [Locke] |
12544 | Our knowledge falls short of the extent of our own ideas [Locke] |
17623 | To understand a thought you must understand its logical structure [Frege, by Burge] |
16885 | To understand a thought, understand its inferential connections to other thoughts [Frege, by Burge] |
12651 | Some beliefs are only inferred when needed, like 'Shakespeare had not telephone' [Fodor] |
12574 | When two ideas agree in my mind, I cannot refuse to see and know it [Locke] |
2502 | How do you count beliefs? [Fodor] |
12628 | Knowing that must come before knowing how [Fodor] |
15995 | The greatest certainty is knowing our own ideas, and that two ideas are different [Locke] |
12562 | General certainty is only found in ideas [Locke] |
15994 | If it is knowledge, it is certain; if it isn't certain, it isn't knowledge [Locke] |
12569 | Knowledge by senses is less certain than that by intuition or reason, but it is still knowledge [Locke] |
12564 | I am as certain of the thing doubting, as I am of the doubt [Locke] |
2501 | Berkeley seems to have mistakenly thought that chairs are the same as after-images [Fodor] |
9158 | For Frege a priori knowledge derives from general principles, so numbers can't be primitive [Frege] |
16887 | Frege's concept of 'self-evident' makes no reference to minds [Frege, by Burge] |
8657 | Mathematicians just accept self-evidence, whether it is logical or intuitive [Frege] |
3008 | Evolution suggests that innate knowledge of human psychology would be beneficial [Fodor] |
7570 | Innate ideas are trivial (if they are just potentials) or absurd (if they claim infants know a lot) [Locke, by Jolley] |
12472 | If the only test of innateness is knowing, then all of our knowledge is innate [Locke] |
7709 | A proposition can't be in the mind if we aren't conscious of it [Locke] |
4018 | Innate ideas were followed up with innate doctrines, which stopped reasoning and made social control possible [Locke] |
2990 | Contrary to commonsense, most of what is in the mind seems to be unlearned [Fodor] |
3009 | Sticklebacks have an innate idea that red things are rivals [Fodor] |
7723 | The senses first let in particular ideas, which furnish the empty cabinet [Locke] |
7507 | The mind is white paper, with no writing, or ideas [Locke] |
12474 | The mind is a blank page, on which only experience can write [Locke] |
16894 | An apriori truth is grounded in generality, which is universal quantification [Frege, by Burge] |
9352 | An a priori truth is one derived from general laws which do not require proof [Frege] |
16889 | A truth is a priori if it can be proved entirely from general unproven laws [Frege] |
2514 | Frege tried to explain synthetic a priori truths by expanding the concept of analyticity [Frege, by Katz] |
12518 | The mind cannot produce simple ideas [Locke] |
12478 | A 'quality' is a power to produce an idea in our minds [Locke] |
12481 | Hands can report conflicting temperatures, but not conflicting shapes [Locke] |
12546 | We can't know how primary and secondary qualities connect together [Locke] |
15989 | Colours, smells and tastes are ideas; the secondary qualities have no colour, smell or taste [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
15971 | Secondary qualities are powers of complex primary qualities to produce sensations in us [Locke] |
6725 | Locke believes matter is an inert, senseless substance, with extension, figure and motion [Locke, by Berkeley] |
15982 | Qualities are named as primary if they are needed for scientific explanation [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
12479 | Primary qualities produce simple ideas, such as solidity, extension, motion and number [Locke] |
12480 | Ideas of primary qualities resemble their objects, but those of secondary qualities don't [Locke] |
7049 | In Locke, the primary qualities are also powers [Locke, by Heil] |
15973 | In my view Locke's 'textures' are groups of corpuscles which are powers (rather than 'having' powers) [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
7050 | I suspect that Locke did not actually believe colours are 'in the mind' [Locke, by Heil] |
15979 | Secondary qualities are simply the bare powers of an object [Locke] |
12482 | Molyneux's Question: could a blind man distinguish cube from sphere, if he regained his sight? [Locke] |
2465 | Maybe explaining the mechanics of perception will explain the concepts involved [Fodor] |
2504 | Rationalism can be based on an evolved computational brain with innate structure [Fodor] |
7724 | All the ideas written on the white paper of the mind can only come from one place - experience [Locke] |
12527 | Some ideas connect together naturally, while others connect by chance or custom [Locke] |
12555 | The constant link between whiteness and things that produce it is the basis of our knowledge [Locke] |
2493 | According to empiricists abstraction is the fundamental mental process [Fodor] |
3978 | Associations are held to connect Ideas together in the way the world is connected together [Fodor] |
12617 | Associationism can't explain how truth is preserved [Fodor] |
12542 | Knowledge is just the connection or disagreement of our ideas [Locke] |
12625 | Pragmatism is the worst idea ever [Fodor] |
16637 | The absolute boundaries of our thought are the ideas we get from senses and the mind [Locke] |
2494 | Rationalists say there is more to a concept than the experience that prompts it [Fodor] |
2793 | It is unclear how identity, equality, perfection, God, power and cause derive from experience [Locke, by Dancy,J] |
16900 | Intuitions cannot be communicated [Frege, by Burge] |
12543 | Intuition gives us direct and certain knowledge of what is obvious [Locke] |
19517 | Believing without a reason may just be love of your own fantasies [Locke] |
16903 | Justifications show the ordering of truths, and the foundation is what is self-evident [Frege, by Jeshion] |
15977 | Facts beyond immediate experience are assessed by agreement with known truths and observations [Locke] |
2555 | For Locke knowledge relates to objects, not to propositions [Locke, by Rorty] |
11052 | Psychological logic can't distinguish justification from causes of a belief [Frege] |
2462 | Control of belief is possible if you know truth conditions and what causes beliefs [Fodor] |
10326 | Other men's opinions don't add to our knowledge - even when they are true [Locke] |
6488 | Locke has no patience with scepticism [Locke, by Robinson,H] |
2460 | Participation in an experiment requires agreement about what the outcome will mean [Fodor] |
2461 | An experiment is a deliberate version of what informal thinking does all the time [Fodor] |
2454 | We can deliberately cause ourselves to have true thoughts - hence the value of experiments [Fodor] |
2455 | Interrogation and experiment submit us to having beliefs caused [Fodor] |
2458 | Theories are links in the causal chain between the environment and our beliefs [Fodor] |
16882 | The building blocks contain the whole contents of a discipline [Frege] |
8624 | Induction is merely psychological, with a principle that it can actually establish laws [Frege] |
8626 | In science one observation can create high probability, while a thousand might prove nothing [Frege] |
16037 | Locke seems to use real essence for scientific explanation, and substratum for the being of a thing [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
16032 | To explain qualities, Locke invokes primary and secondary qualities, not real essences [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12519 | Gold is supposed to have a real essence, from whence its detectable properties flow [Locke] |
2503 | Empirical approaches see mind connections as mirrors/maps of reality [Fodor] |
2508 | The function of a mind is obvious [Fodor] |
8648 | Ideas are not spatial, and don't have distances between them [Frege] |
12636 | Mental states have causal powers [Fodor] |
2994 | In CRTT thought may be represented, content must be [Fodor] |
2443 | I say psychology is intentional, semantics is informational, and thinking is computation [Fodor] |
12551 | We are satisfied that other men have minds, from their words and actions [Locke] |
12483 | Unlike humans, animals cannot entertain general ideas [Locke] |
5002 | Consciousness is the perception of what passes in a man's own mind [Locke] |
2453 | We are probably the only creatures that can think about our own thoughts [Fodor] |
2603 | If we aren't aware that an idea is innate, the concept of innate is meaningless; if we do, all ideas seem innate [Locke] |
15473 | How does anything get outside itself? [Fodor, by Martin,CB] |
2485 | Do intentional states explain our behaviour? [Fodor] |
2981 | Is intentionality outwardly folk psychology, inwardly mentalese? [Lyons on Fodor] |
15494 | We can't use propositions to explain intentional attitudes, because they would need explaining [Fodor] |
7326 | Intentionality doesn't go deep enough to appear on the physicists' ultimate list of things [Fodor] |
3976 | Intentional science needs objects with semantic and causal properties, and which obey laws [Fodor] |
3980 | Intentional states and processes may be causal relations among mental symbols [Fodor] |
2421 | There is nothing illogical about inverted qualia [Locke] |
3522 | The same object might produce violet in one mind and marigold in another [Locke] |
7721 | Locke's view that thoughts are made of ideas asserts the crucial role of imagination [Locke] |
12476 | Every external object or internal idea suggests to us the idea of unity [Locke] |
12501 | The mind can make a unity out of anything, no matter how diverse [Locke] |
9083 | The mind creates abstractions by generalising about appearances of objects, ignoring time or place [Locke] |
7040 | General words represent general ideas, which are abstractions from immediate circumstances [Locke] |
12661 | The different types of resemblance don't resemble one another [Fodor] |
12528 | If a man sees a friend die in a room, he associates the pain with the room [Locke] |
5512 | Locke uses 'self' for a momentary entity, and 'person' for an extended one [Locke, by Martin/Barresi] |
1202 | A person is intelligent, rational, self-aware, continuous, conscious [Locke] |
1381 | Someone mad then sane is two persons, judging by our laws and punishments [Locke] |
1385 | 'Person' is a term used about responsibility, involving law, and happiness and misery [Locke] |
1372 | Our personal identity must depend on something we are aware of, namely consciousness [Locke] |
1378 | My little finger is part of me if I am conscious of it [Locke] |
2506 | If I have a set of mental modules, someone had better be in charge of them! [Fodor] |
5175 | Personal identity is my perceptions, but not my memory, as I forget too much [Ayer on Locke] |
1363 | Locke's theory confusingly tries to unite consciousness and memory [Reid on Locke] |
1368 | Locke mistakes similarity of a memory to its original event for identity [Reid on Locke] |
1373 | Identity over time involves remembering actions just as they happened [Locke] |
1380 | Should we punish people who commit crimes in their sleep? [Locke] |
5511 | For Locke, conscious awareness unifies a person at an instant and over time [Locke, by Martin/Barresi] |
12509 | If the soul individuates a man, and souls are transferable, then a hog could be a man [Locke] |
1376 | Identity must be in consciousness not substance, because it seems transferable [Locke] |
12512 | If someone becomes conscious of Nestor's actions, then he is Nestor [Locke] |
12513 | If a prince's soul entered a cobbler's body, the person would be the prince (and the man the cobbler) [Locke] |
12514 | On Judgement Day, no one will be punished for actions they cannot remember [Locke] |
1397 | Locke sees underlying substance as irrelevant to personal identity [Locke, by Noonan] |
6139 | Locke implies that each thought has two thinkers - me, and 'my' substance [Merricks on Locke] |
5513 | Two persons might have qualitatively identical consciousnesses, so that isn't enough [Kant on Locke] |
1345 | Locke's move from substance to consciousness is a slippery slope [Butler on Locke] |
1197 | No two thoughts at different times can be the same, as they have different beginnings [Locke] |
1364 | Locke confuses the test for personal identity with the thing itself [Reid on Locke] |
12511 | If consciousness is interrupted, and we forget our past selves, are we still the same thinking thing? [Locke] |
1361 | If identity is consciousness, could a person move between bodies or fragment into parts? [Reid on Locke] |
21326 | Locke's memory theory of identity confuses personal identity with the test for it [Reid on Locke] |
1387 | Butler thought Locke's theory was doomed once he rejected mental substance [Perry on Locke] |
12809 | Nothing about me is essential [Locke] |
3792 | We are free to decide not to follow our desires [Locke] |
12494 | Men are not free to will, because they cannot help willing [Locke] |
12492 | Liberty is a power of agents, so can't be an attribute of wills [Locke] |
12493 | A man is free insofar as he can act according to his own preferences [Locke] |
2446 | Cartesians consider interaction to be a miracle [Fodor] |
2445 | Semantics v syntax is the interaction problem all over again [Fodor] |
2599 | Either intentionality causes things, or epiphenomenalism is true [Fodor] |
7840 | For all we know, an omnipotent being might have enabled material beings to think [Locke] |
3001 | Behaviourism has no theory of mental causation [Fodor] |
2467 | Functionalists see pains as properties involving relations and causation [Fodor] |
2993 | Any piece of software can always be hard-wired [Fodor] |
12632 | In the Representational view, concepts play the key linking role [Fodor] |
3011 | Causal powers must be a crucial feature of mental states [Fodor] |
5498 | Mind is a set of hierarchical 'homunculi', which are made up in turn from subcomponents [Fodor, by Lycan] |
2597 | Contrary to the 'anomalous monist' view, there may well be intentional causal laws [Fodor] |
2489 | Why bother with neurons? You don't explain bird flight by examining feathers [Fodor] |
2985 | Are beliefs brains states, but picked out at a "higher level"? [Lyons on Fodor] |
2995 | Supervenience gives good support for mental causation [Fodor] |
12500 | Thinking without matter and matter that thinks are equally baffling [Locke] |
15996 | We can't begin to conceive what would produce some particular experience within our minds [Locke] |
12552 | Thoughts moving bodies, and bodies producing thoughts, are equally unknowable [Locke] |
2464 | Type physicalism equates mental kinds with physical kinds [Fodor] |
2468 | Type physicalism is a stronger claim than token physicalism [Fodor] |
2490 | Modern connectionism is just Hume's theory of the 'association' of 'ideas' [Fodor] |
12624 | Only the labels of nodes have semantic content in connectionism, and they play no role [Fodor] |
2447 | Hume has no theory of the co-ordination of the mind [Fodor] |
2991 | Hume's associationism offers no explanation at all of rational thought [Fodor] |
3002 | If mind is just physical, how can it follow the rules required for intelligent thought? [Fodor] |
2598 | Lots of physical properties are multiply realisable, so why shouldn't beliefs be? [Fodor] |
3981 | Most psychological properties seem to be multiply realisable [Fodor] |
19469 | We grasp thoughts (thinking), decide they are true (judgement), and manifest the judgement (assertion) [Frege] |
2476 | The goal of thought is to understand the world, not instantly sort it into conceptual categories [Fodor] |
8620 | Thought is the same everywhere, and the laws of thought do not vary [Frege] |
9581 | Many people have the same thought, which is the component, not the private presentation [Frege] |
8162 | Thoughts have their own realm of reality - 'sense' (as opposed to the realm of 'reference') [Frege, by Dummett] |
9818 | A thought is distinguished from other things by a capacity to be true or false [Frege, by Dummett] |
12640 | Associative thinking avoids syntax, but can't preserve sense, reference or truth [Fodor] |
2992 | We may be able to explain rationality mechanically [Fodor] |
12641 | Connectionism gives no account of how constituents make complex concepts [Fodor] |
2440 | Propositional attitudes are propositions presented in a certain way [Fodor] |
2988 | Folk psychology is the only explanation of behaviour we have [Fodor] |
3975 | Folk psychology explains behaviour by reference to intentional states like belief and desire [Fodor] |
2450 | Rationality has mental properties - autonomy, productivity, experiment [Fodor] |
18265 | We don't judge by combining subject and concept; we get a concept by splitting up a judgement [Frege] |
6712 | For Locke, abstract ideas are our main superiority of understanding over animals [Locke, by Berkeley] |
16379 | Thoughts about myself are understood one way to me, and another when communicated [Frege] |
2497 | Something must take an overview of the modules [Fodor] |
2509 | Modules have in-built specialist information [Fodor] |
22186 | Mental modules are specialised, automatic, and isolated [Fodor, by Okasha] |
2491 | Modules have encapsulation, inaccessibility, private concepts, innateness [Fodor] |
2495 | Obvious modules are language and commonsense explanation [Fodor] |
2499 | Modules analyse stimuli, they don't tell you what to do [Fodor] |
2496 | Blindness doesn't destroy spatial concepts [Fodor] |
2498 | Modules make the world manageable [Fodor] |
2500 | Babies talk in consistent patterns [Fodor] |
2507 | Rationality rises above modules [Fodor] |
2480 | Language is ambiguous, but thought isn't [Fodor] |
2487 | Mentalese may also incorporate some natural language [Fodor] |
2483 | Mentalese doesn't require a theory of meaning [Fodor] |
3010 | Belief and desire are structured states, which need mentalese [Fodor] |
12643 | Ambiguities in English are the classic reason for claiming that we don't think in English [Fodor] |
8090 | Since the language of thought is the same for all, it must be something like logical form [Fodor, by Devlin] |
2604 | We must have expressive power BEFORE we learn language [Fodor] |
16876 | We need definitions to cram retrievable sense into a signed receptacle [Frege] |
16875 | We use signs to mark receptacles for complex senses [Frege] |
12647 | Mental representations name things in the world, but also files in our memory [Fodor] |
12649 | We think in file names [Fodor] |
3135 | Is thought a syntactic computation using representations? [Fodor, by Rey] |
12655 | Frame Problem: how to eliminate most beliefs as irrelevant, without searching them? [Fodor] |
2983 | Maybe narrow content is physical, broad content less so [Lyons on Fodor] |
15967 | The word 'idea' covers thinking best, for imaginings, concepts, and basic experiences [Locke] |
12615 | Mental representations are the old 'Ideas', but without images [Fodor] |
12496 | Complex ideas are all resolvable into simple ideas [Locke] |
6486 | Ideas are the objects of understanding when we think [Locke] |
12630 | If concept content is reference, then my Twin and I are referring to the same stuff [Fodor] |
2437 | XYZ (Twin Earth 'water') is an impossibility [Fodor] |
2441 | Truth conditions require a broad concept of content [Fodor] |
3982 | How could the extrinsic properties of thoughts supervene on their intrinsic properties? [Fodor] |
2999 | Obsession with narrow content leads to various sorts of hopeless anti-realism [Fodor] |
3114 | Concepts aren't linked to stuff; they are what is caused by stuff [Fodor] |
2486 | Content can't be causal role, because causal role is decided by content [Fodor] |
3012 | Do identical thoughts have identical causal roles? [Fodor] |
2452 | Knowing the cause of a thought is almost knowing its content [Fodor] |
2432 | Is content basically information, fixed externally? [Fodor] |
9870 | Early Frege takes the extensions of concepts for granted [Frege, by Dummett] |
12658 | Nobody knows how concepts are acquired [Fodor] |
12475 | All our ideas derive either from sensation, or from inner reflection [Locke] |
17735 | Simple ideas are produced in us by external things, and they match their appearances [Locke] |
12471 | Innate ideas are nothing, if they are in the mind but we are unaware of them [Locke] |
2492 | Experience can't explain itself; the concepts needed must originate outside experience [Fodor] |
11143 | If concept-learning is hypothesis-testing, that needs innate concepts to get started [Fodor, by Margolis/Laurence] |
6650 | Fodor is now less keen on the innateness of concepts [Fodor, by Lowe] |
12662 | We have an innate capacity to form a concept, once we have grasped the stereotype [Fodor] |
12618 | It is essential to the concept CAT that it be satisfied by cats [Fodor] |
12635 | Having a concept isn't a pragmatic matter, but being able to think about the concept [Fodor] |
12652 | Concepts have two sides; they are files that face thought, and also face subject-matter [Fodor] |
12626 | Cartesians put concept individuation before concept possession [Fodor] |
2438 | In the information view, concepts are potentials for making distinctions [Fodor] |
12614 | I prefer psychological atomism - that concepts are independent of epistemic capacities [Fodor] |
2471 | Are concepts best seen as capacities? [Fodor] |
2472 | For Pragmatists having a concept means being able to do something [Fodor] |
13878 | Concepts are, precisely, the references of predicates [Frege, by Wright,C] |
7736 | A concept is a non-psychological one-place function asserting something of an object [Frege, by Weiner] |
17430 | Fregean concepts have precise boundaries and universal applicability [Frege, by Koslicki] |
8622 | Psychological accounts of concepts are subjective, and ultimately destroy truth [Frege] |
9947 | Concepts are the ontological counterparts of predicative expressions [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
10319 | An assertion about the concept 'horse' must indirectly speak of an object [Frege, by Hale] |
8488 | A concept is a function whose value is always a truth-value [Frege] |
18752 | 'The concept "horse"' denotes a concept, yet seems also to denote an object [Frege, by McGee] |
9839 | Frege equated the concepts under which an object falls with its properties [Frege, by Dummett] |
9190 | A concept is a function mapping objects onto truth-values, if they fall under the concept [Frege, by Dummett] |
13665 | Frege took the study of concepts to be part of logic [Frege, by Shapiro] |
12637 | Frege's puzzles suggest to many that concepts have sense as well as reference [Fodor] |
12638 | If concepts have sense, we can't see the connection to their causal powers [Fodor] |
12639 | Belief in 'senses' may explain intentionality, but not mental processes [Fodor] |
9948 | Unlike objects, concepts are inherently incomplete [Frege, by George/Velleman] |
12654 | You can't think 'brown dog' without thinking 'brown' and 'dog' [Fodor] |
12621 | Definable concepts have constituents, which are necessary, individuate them, and demonstrate possession [Fodor] |
12622 | Many concepts lack prototypes, and complex prototypes aren't built from simple ones [Fodor] |
12659 | Maybe stereotypes are a stage in concept acquisition (rather than a by-product) [Fodor] |
12660 | One stereotype might be a paradigm for two difference concepts [Fodor] |
12623 | The theory theory can't actually tell us what concepts are [Fodor] |
12629 | For the referential view of thought, the content of a concept is just its reference [Fodor] |
12631 | Compositionality requires that concepts be atomic [Fodor] |
8651 | A concept is a possible predicate of a singular judgement [Frege] |
4973 | As I understand it, a concept is the meaning of a grammatical predicate [Frege] |
5827 | A species of thing is an abstract idea, and a word is a sign that refers to the idea [Locke] |
9846 | Defining 'direction' by parallelism doesn't tell you whether direction is a line [Dummett on Frege] |
9976 | Frege accepts abstraction to the concept of all sets equipollent to a given one [Tait on Frege] |
12657 | Abstractionism claims that instances provide criteria for what is shared [Fodor] |
10803 | Frege himself abstracts away from tone and color [Yablo on Frege] |
9988 | If we abstract 'from' two cats, the units are not black or white, or cats [Tait on Frege] |
9579 | Disregarding properties of two cats still leaves different objects, but what is now the difference? [Frege] |
9587 | How do you find the right level of inattention; you eliminate too many or too few characteristics [Frege] |
9890 | The modern account of real numbers detaches a ratio from its geometrical origins [Frege] |
9855 | Frege's logical abstaction identifies a common feature as the maximal set of equivalent objects [Frege, by Dummett] |
10802 | Frege's 'parallel' and 'direction' don't have the same content, as we grasp 'parallel' first [Yablo on Frege] |
10525 | Frege put the idea of abstraction on a rigorous footing [Frege, by Fine,K] |
10526 | Fregean abstraction creates concepts which are equivalences between initial items [Frege, by Fine,K] |
10556 | We create new abstract concepts by carving up the content in a different way [Frege] |
9882 | You can't simultaneously fix the truth-conditions of a sentence and the domain of its variables [Dummett on Frege] |
9881 | From basing 'parallel' on identity of direction, Frege got all abstractions from identity statements [Frege, by Dummett] |
5816 | Frege said concepts were abstract entities, not mental entities [Frege, by Putnam] |
9588 | Number-abstraction somehow makes things identical without changing them! [Frege] |
11846 | If we abstract the difference between two houses, they don't become the same house [Frege] |
2439 | Semantic externalism says the concept 'elm' needs no further beliefs or inferences [Fodor] |
2457 | If meaning is information, that establishes the causal link between the state of the world and our beliefs [Fodor] |
7716 | Words were devised as signs for inner ideas, and their basic meaning is those ideas [Locke] |
7308 | Words stand for the ideas in the mind of him that uses them [Locke] |
9167 | Frege felt that meanings must be public, so they are abstractions rather than mental entities [Frege, by Putnam] |
9583 | Psychological logicians are concerned with sense of words, but mathematicians study the reference [Frege] |
9584 | Identity baffles psychologists, since A and B must be presented differently to identify them [Frege] |
2998 | Grice thinks meaning is inherited from the propositional attitudes which sentences express [Fodor] |
2482 | It seems unlikely that meaning can be reduced to communicative intentions, or any mental states [Fodor] |
7307 | A thought is not psychological, but a condition of the world that makes a sentence true [Frege, by Miller,A] |
4980 | The meaning (reference) of a sentence is its truth value - the circumstance of it being true or false [Frege] |
3006 | Whatever in the mind delivers falsehood is parasitic on what delivers truth [Fodor] |
2451 | To know the content of a thought is to know what would make it true [Fodor] |
22318 | Frege failed to show when two sets of truth-conditions are equivalent [Frege, by Potter] |
3007 | Many different verification procedures can reach 'star', but it only has one semantic value [Fodor] |
3004 | The meaning of a sentence derives from its use in expressing an attitude [Fodor] |
16879 | A sign won't gain sense just from being used in sentences with familiar components [Frege] |
8646 | Words in isolation seem to have ideas as meanings, but words have meaning in propositions [Frege] |
7732 | Never ask for the meaning of a word in isolation, but only in the context of a proposition [Frege] |
8446 | We understand new propositions by constructing their sense from the words [Frege] |
9180 | Holism says all language use is also a change in the rules of language [Frege, by Dummett] |
3000 | Meaning holism is a crazy doctrine [Fodor] |
2433 | For holists no two thoughts are ever quite the same, which destroys faith in meaning [Fodor] |
2477 | If to understand "fish" you must know facts about them, where does that end? [Fodor] |
3003 | Very different mental states can share their contents, so content doesn't seem to be constructed from functional role [Fodor] |
12634 | 'Inferential-role semantics' says meaning is determined by role in inference [Fodor] |
2996 | Mental states may have the same content but different extensions [Fodor] |
4981 | The reference of a word should be understood as part of the reference of the sentence [Frege] |
12642 | Co-referring terms differ if they have different causal powers [Fodor] |
12663 | We refer to individuals and to properties, and we use singular terms and predicates [Fodor] |
12524 | For the correct reference of complex ideas, we can only refer to experts [Locke] |
15597 | Frege's Puzzle: from different semantics we infer different reference for two names with the same reference [Frege, by Fine,K] |
17002 | Frege's 'sense' is ambiguous, between the meaning of a designator, and how it fixes reference [Kripke on Frege] |
18778 | Every descriptive name has a sense, but may not have a reference [Frege] |
7805 | Frege started as anti-realist, but the sense/reference distinction led him to realism [Frege, by Benardete,JA] |
4976 | The meaning (reference) of 'evening star' is the same as that of 'morning star', but not the sense [Frege] |
4977 | In maths, there are phrases with a clear sense, but no actual reference [Frege] |
4979 | We are driven from sense to reference by our desire for truth [Frege] |
8449 | Senses can't be subjective, because propositions would be private, and disagreement impossible [Frege] |
2436 | It is claimed that reference doesn't fix sense (Jocasta), and sense doesn't fix reference (Twin Earth) [Fodor] |
15155 | Expressions always give ways of thinking of referents, rather than the referents themselves [Frege, by Soames] |
4972 | I may regard a thought about Phosphorus as true, and the same thought about Hesperus as false [Frege] |
2434 | Broad semantics holds that the basic semantic properties are truth and denotation [Fodor] |
12616 | English has no semantic theory, just associations between sentences and thoughts [Fodor] |
12645 | Semantics (esp. referential semantics) allows inferences from utterances to the world [Fodor] |
12646 | Semantics relates to the world, so it is never just psychological [Fodor] |
22280 | Frege's account was top-down and decompositional, not bottom-up and compositional [Frege, by Potter] |
7309 | Frege's 'sense' is the strict and literal meaning, stripped of tone [Frege, by Miller,A] |
7312 | 'Sense' solves the problems of bearerless names, substitution in beliefs, and informativeness [Frege, by Miller,A] |
11126 | 'Sense' gives meaning to non-referring names, and to two expressions for one referent [Frege, by Margolis/Laurence] |
8164 | Frege was the first to construct a plausible theory of meaning [Frege, by Dummett] |
9817 | Earlier Frege focuses on content itself; later he became interested in understanding content [Frege, by Dummett] |
8171 | Frege divided the meaning of a sentence into sense, force and tone [Frege, by Dummett] |
4954 | Frege uses 'sense' to mean both a designator's meaning, and the way its reference is determined [Kripke on Frege] |
7304 | Frege explained meaning as sense, semantic value, reference, force and tone [Frege, by Miller,A] |
2459 | Externalist semantics are necessary to connect the contents of beliefs with how the world is [Fodor] |
4974 | For all the multiplicity of languages, mankind has a common stock of thoughts [Frege] |
16873 | Thoughts are not subjective or psychological, because some thoughts are the same for us all [Frege] |
16872 | A thought is the sense expressed by a sentence, and is what we prove [Frege] |
19467 | A 'thought' is something for which the question of truth can arise; thoughts are senses of sentences [Frege] |
16874 | The parts of a thought map onto the parts of a sentence [Frege] |
19472 | A sentence is only a thought if it is complete, and has a time-specification [Frege] |
9370 | A statement is analytic if substitution of synonyms can make it a logical truth [Frege, by Boghossian] |
8743 | Frege considered analyticity to be an epistemic concept [Frege, by Shapiro] |
7725 | 'P or not-p' seems to be analytic, but does not fit Kant's account, lacking clear subject or predicate [Frege, by Weiner] |
20295 | All analytic truths can become logical truths, by substituting definitions or synonyms [Frege, by Rey] |
7316 | Analytic truths are those that can be demonstrated using only logic and definitions [Frege, by Miller,A] |
2473 | Analysis is impossible without the analytic/synthetic distinction [Fodor] |
2515 | Frege fails to give a concept of analyticity, so he fails to explain synthetic a priori truth that way [Katz on Frege] |
2484 | The theory of the content of thought as 'Mentalese' explains why the Private Language Argument doesn't work [Fodor] |
15991 | Since words are just conventional, we can represent our own ideas with any words we please [Locke] |
12627 | Before you can plan action, you must decide on the truth of your estimate of success [Fodor] |
4130 | There couldn't be a moral rule of which a man could not justly demand a reason [Locke] |
12495 | Pursuit of happiness is the highest perfection of intellectual nature [Locke] |
12541 | Morality can be demonstrated, because we know the real essences behind moral words [Locke] |
12473 | We can demand a reason for any moral rule [Locke] |
1386 | A concern for happiness is the inevitable result of consciousness [Locke] |
4019 | Things are good and evil only in reference to pleasure and pain [Locke] |
12515 | Actions are virtuous if they are judged praiseworthy [Locke] |
19906 | All countries are in a mutual state of nature [Locke] |
19882 | We are not created for solitude, but are driven into society by our needs [Locke] |
19864 | In nature men can dispose of possessions and their persons in any way that is possible [Locke] |
19865 | There is no subjection in nature, and all creatures of the same species are equal [Locke] |
19866 | The rational law of nature says we are all equal and independent, and should show mutual respect [Locke] |
19872 | The animals and fruits of the earth belong to mankind [Locke] |
19907 | There is a natural right to inheritance within a family [Locke] |
19863 | Politics is the right to make enforceable laws to protect property and the state, for the common good [Locke] |
5654 | The Second Treatise explores the consequences of the contractual view of the state [Locke, by Scruton] |
19888 | A society only begins if there is consent of all the individuals to join it [Locke] |
6702 | If anyone enjoys the benefits of government (even using a road) they give tacit assent to its laws [Locke] |
19909 | A politic society is created from a state of nature by a unanimous agreement [Locke] |
19910 | A single will creates the legislature, which is duty-bound to preserve that will [Locke] |
19893 | Anyone who enjoys the benefits of a state has given tacit consent to be part of it [Locke] |
19894 | You can only become an actual member of a commonwealth by an express promise [Locke] |
19892 | Children are not born into citizenship of a state [Locke] |
19885 | Absolute monarchy is inconsistent with civil society [Locke] |
19886 | The idea that absolute power improves mankind is confuted by history [Locke] |
19903 | Despotism is arbitrary power to kill, based neither on natural equality, nor any social contract [Locke] |
19905 | People stripped of their property are legitimately subject to despotism [Locke] |
19904 | Legitimate prisoners of war are subject to despotism, because that continues the state of war [Locke] |
19895 | Even the legislature must be preceded by a law which gives it power to make laws [Locke] |
19900 | The executive must not be the legislature, or they may exempt themselves from laws [Locke] |
19902 | Any obstruction to the operation of the legislature can be removed forcibly by the people [Locke] |
19908 | Rebelling against an illegitimate power is no sin [Locke] |
19911 | If legislators confiscate property, or enslave people, they are no longer owed obedience [Locke] |
19901 | The people have supreme power, to depose a legislature which has breached their trust [Locke] |
19887 | Unanimous consent makes a united community, which is then ruled by the majority [Locke] |
19913 | A master forfeits ownership of slaves he abandons [Locke] |
19883 | Slaves captured in a just war have no right to property, so are not part of civil society [Locke] |
19870 | If you try to enslave me, you have declared war on me [Locke] |
19871 | Freedom is not absence of laws, but living under laws arrived at by consent [Locke] |
19880 | All value depends on the labour involved [Locke] |
19884 | There is only a civil society if the members give up all of their natural executive rights [Locke] |
19873 | We all own our bodies, and the work we do is our own [Locke] |
6580 | Locke (and Marx) held that ownership of objects is a natural relation, based on the labour put into it [Locke, by Fogelin] |
20520 | Locke says 'mixing of labour' entitles you to land, as well as nuts and berries [Wolff,J on Locke] |
19875 | A man's labour gives ownership rights - as long as there are fair shares for all [Locke] |
19874 | If a man mixes his labour with something in Nature, he thereby comes to own it [Locke] |
19877 | Fountain water is everyone's, but a drawn pitcher of water has an owner [Locke] |
19876 | Gathering natural fruits gives ownership; the consent of other people is irrelevant [Locke] |
19878 | Mixing labour with a thing bestows ownership - as long as the thing is not wasted [Locke] |
12548 | It is certain that injustice requires property, since it is a violation of the right to property [Locke] |
19898 | Soldiers can be commanded to die, but not to hand over their money [Locke] |
19879 | A man owns land if he cultivates it, to the limits of what he needs [Locke] |
19881 | The aim of law is not restraint, but to make freedom possible [Locke] |
19868 | It is only by a law of Nature that we can justify punishing foreigners [Locke] |
19867 | Reparation and restraint are the only justifications for punishment [Locke] |
19912 | Self-defence is natural, but not the punishment of superiors by inferiors [Locke] |
19869 | Punishment should make crime a bad bargain, leading to repentance and deterrence [Locke] |
19899 | The consent of the people is essential for any tax [Locke] |
8619 | To learn something, you must know that you don't know [Frege] |
15997 | We are so far from understanding the workings of natural bodies that it is pointless to even try [Locke] |
15978 | I take 'matter' to be a body, excluding its extension in space and its shape [Locke] |
15170 | We distinguish species by their nominal essence, not by their real essence [Locke] |
15993 | If we observe total regularity, there must be some unknown law and relationships controlling it [Locke] |
12497 | Causes are the substances which have the powers to produce action [Locke] |
8656 | The laws of number are not laws of nature, but are laws of the laws of nature [Frege] |
12550 | If we knew the minute mechanics of hemlock, we could predict that it kills men [Locke] |
15966 | Boyle and Locke believed corpuscular structures necessitate their powers of interaction [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
15984 | The corpuscular hypothesis is the best explanation of the necessary connection and co-existence of powers [Locke] |
15950 | We will only understand substance when we know the necessary connections between powers and qualities [Locke] |
7713 | We identify substances by supposing that groups of sensations arise from an essence [Locke] |
12545 | Other spirits may exceed us in knowledge, by knowing the inward constitution of things [Locke] |
3977 | Laws are true generalisations which support counterfactuals and are confirmed by instances [Fodor] |
12484 | Motion is just change of distance between two things [Locke] |
15986 | Boyle and Locke suspect forces of being occult [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
16685 | An insurmountable force in a body keeps our hands apart when we handle it [Locke] |
15980 | We can locate the parts of the universe, but not the whole thing [Locke] |
12486 | An 'instant' is where we perceive no succession, and is the time of a single idea [Locke] |
12487 | We can never show that two successive periods of time were equal [Locke] |
12567 | It is inconceivable that unthinking matter could produce intelligence [Locke] |
12570 | The finite and dependent should obey the supreme and infinite [Locke] |
12565 | God has given us no innate idea of himself [Locke] |
3307 | Frege put forward an ontological argument for the existence of numbers [Frege, by Benardete,JA] |
7741 | The predicate 'exists' is actually a natural language expression for a quantifier [Frege, by Weiner] |
22286 | Existence is not a first-level concept (of God), but a second-level property of concepts [Frege, by Potter] |
8644 | Because existence is a property of concepts the ontological argument for God fails [Frege] |
8491 | The Ontological Argument fallaciously treats existence as a first-level concept [Frege] |
12566 | We exist, so there is Being, which requires eternal being [Locke] |
12571 | If miracles aim at producing belief, it is plausible that their events are very unusual [Locke] |