Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Marcus Aurelius, Demetris Portides and Richard Cartwright

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32 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People
A philosopher should have principles ready for understanding, like a surgeon with instruments [Aurelius]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
Philosophers working like teams of scientists is absurd, yet isolation is hard [Cartwright,R]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 6. Coherence
A false proposition isn't truer because it is part of a coherent system [Cartwright,R]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 5. Truth Bearers
Are the truth-bearers sentences, utterances, ideas, beliefs, judgements, propositions or statements? [Cartwright,R]
Logicians take sentences to be truth-bearers for rigour, rather than for philosophical reasons [Cartwright,R]
7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 1. Nature of Change
Everything is changing, including yourself and the whole universe [Aurelius]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 11. Properties as Sets
While no two classes coincide in membership, there are distinct but coextensive attributes [Cartwright,R]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / a. Scattered objects
Clearly a pipe can survive being taken apart [Cartwright,R]
Bodies don't becomes scattered by losing small or minor parts [Cartwright,R]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / a. Essence as necessary properties
Essentialism says some of a thing's properties are necessary, and could not be absent [Cartwright,R]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 14. Knowledge of Essences
The difficulty in essentialism is deciding the grounds for rating an attribute as essential [Cartwright,R]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism
Essentialism is said to be unintelligible, because relative, if necessary truths are all analytic [Cartwright,R]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 3. Relative Identity
An act of ostension doesn't seem to need a 'sort' of thing, even of a very broad kind [Cartwright,R]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 4. Type Identity
A token isn't a unique occurrence, as the case of a word or a number shows [Cartwright,R]
14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 7. Scientific Models
Theoretical models can represent, by mapping onto the data-models [Portides]
In the 'received view' models are formal; the 'semantic view' emphasises representation [Portides, by PG]
Representational success in models depends on success of their explanations [Portides]
The best model of the atomic nucleus is the one which explains the most results [Portides]
'Model' belongs in a family of concepts, with representation, idealisation and abstraction [Portides]
Models are theory-driven, or phenomenological (more empirical and specific) [Portides]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / i. Explanations by mechanism
General theories may be too abstract to actually explain the mechanisms [Portides]
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 1. Meaning
For any statement, there is no one meaning which any sentence asserting it must have [Cartwright,R]
People don't assert the meaning of the words they utter [Cartwright,R]
19. Language / D. Propositions / 1. Propositions
We can pull apart assertion from utterance, and the action, the event and the subject-matter for each [Cartwright,R]
'It's raining' makes a different assertion on different occasions, but its meaning remains the same [Cartwright,R]
19. Language / D. Propositions / 4. Mental Propositions
We can attribute 'true' and 'false' to whatever it was that was said [Cartwright,R]
To assert that p, it is neither necessary nor sufficient to utter some particular words [Cartwright,R]
19. Language / F. Communication / 2. Assertion
Assertions, unlike sentence meanings, can be accurate, probable, exaggerated, false.... [Cartwright,R]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / k. Ethics from nature
Nothing is evil which is according to nature [Aurelius]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / c. Value of pleasure
Justice has no virtue opposed to it, but pleasure has temperance opposed to it [Aurelius]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / b. Living naturally
The art of life is more like the wrestler's than the dancer's [Aurelius]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
Humans are naturally made for co-operation [Aurelius]