Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for John Richardson, Jan Westerhoff and Thomas More

expand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these philosophers


24 ideas

1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 3. Metaphysical Systems
Metaphysics aims at the essence of things, and a system to show how this explains other truths [Richardson]
Metaphysics needs systems, because analysis just obsesses over details [Richardson]
Metaphysics generalises the data, to get at the ontology [Richardson]
5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / a. Names
We negate predicates but do not negate names [Westerhoff]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 1. Categories
Categories can be ordered by both containment and generality [Westerhoff]
How far down before we are too specialised to have a category? [Westerhoff]
Maybe objects in the same category have the same criteria of identity [Westerhoff]
Categories are base-sets which are used to construct states of affairs [Westerhoff]
Categories are held to explain why some substitutions give falsehood, and others meaninglessness [Westerhoff]
Categories systematize our intuitions about generality, substitutability, and identity [Westerhoff]
Categories as generalities don't give a criterion for a low-level cut-off point [Westerhoff]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation
The aim is that everything should belong in some ontological category or other [Westerhoff]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 3. Proposed Categories
All systems have properties and relations, and most have individuals, abstracta, sets and events [Westerhoff]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 5. Category Anti-Realism
Ontological categories are like formal axioms, not unique and with necessary membership [Westerhoff]
Categories merely systematise, and are not intrinsic to objects [Westerhoff]
A thing's ontological category depends on what else exists, so it is contingent [Westerhoff]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 5. Essence as Kind
Essential kinds may be too specific to provide ontological categories [Westerhoff]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
Humans dominate because, unlike other animals, they have a synthesis of conflicting drives [Richardson]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 3. Conservatism
All modern social systems seem to be conspiracies of the rich [More,T]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / d. Representative democracy
If you try to get elected, you should be permanently barred from seeking office [More,T]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / a. Just wars
Only Utopians fail to see glory in warfare [More,T]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 2. Euthanasia
In Utopia, legal euthanasia is considered honourable [More,T]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 7. Eliminating causation
A mind that could see cause and effect as a continuum would deny cause and effect [Richardson]
28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 2. Pantheism
In Utopia, the Supreme Being is identical with Nature [More,T]