21 ideas
10429 | It is best to say that a name designates iff there is something for it to designate [Sainsbury] |
10425 | Definite descriptions may not be referring expressions, since they can fail to refer [Sainsbury] |
10438 | Definite descriptions are usually rigid in subject, but not in predicate, position [Sainsbury] |
8983 | If 'red' is vague, then membership of the set of red things is vague, so there is no set of red things [Sainsbury] |
8986 | We should abandon classifying by pigeon-holes, and classify around paradigms [Sainsbury] |
8982 | Vague concepts are concepts without boundaries [Sainsbury] |
8984 | If concepts are vague, people avoid boundaries, can't spot them, and don't want them [Sainsbury] |
8985 | Boundaryless concepts tend to come in pairs, such as child/adult, hot/cold [Sainsbury] |
15959 | If the substantial form of brass implies its stability, how can it melt and remain brass? [Alexander,P] |
15956 | The peripatetics treated forms and real qualities as independent of matter, and non-material [Alexander,P] |
16978 | If conceivability is a priori coherence, that implies possibility [Tahko] |
15975 | Can the qualities of a body be split into two groups, where the smaller explains the larger? [Alexander,P] |
16975 | Essences are used to explain natural kinds, modality, and causal powers [Tahko] |
10432 | A new usage of a name could arise from a mistaken baptism of nothing [Sainsbury] |
10434 | Even a quantifier like 'someone' can be used referentially [Sainsbury] |
15963 | Science has been partly motivated by the belief that the universe is run by God's laws [Alexander,P] |
10431 | Things are thought to have a function, even when they can't perform them [Sainsbury] |
15951 | Alchemists tried to separate out essences, which influenced later chemistry [Alexander,P] |
16976 | Scientific essentialists tend to characterise essence in terms of modality (not vice versa) [Tahko] |
16977 | If essence is modal and laws are necessary, essentialist knowledge is found by scientists [Tahko] |
15981 | Absolute space either provides locations, or exists but lacks 'marks' for locations [Alexander,P] |