Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for William W. Tait, Derek Parfit and John Cottingham

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26 ideas

1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 7. Limitations of Analysis
9978 Analytic philosophy focuses too much on forms of expression, instead of what is actually said [Tait]
2. Reason / E. Argument / 7. Thought Experiments
5515 Imaginary cases are good for revealing our beliefs, rather than the truth [Parfit]
4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 3. Types of Set / b. Empty (Null) Set
9986 The null set was doubted, because numbering seemed to require 'units' [Tait]
4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 7. Natural Sets
9984 We can have a series with identical members [Tait]
5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 1. Axiomatisation
13416 Mathematics must be based on axioms, which are true because they are axioms, not vice versa [Tait, by Parsons,C]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 2. Reduction
5516 Reduction can be by identity, or constitution, or elimination [Parfit, by PG]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / c. Types of substance
4304 Descartes says there are two substance, Spinoza one, and Leibniz infinitely many [Cottingham]
12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism
4303 The notion of substance lies at the heart of rationalist metaphysics [Cottingham]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 5. Self as Associations
3539 Personal identity is just causally related mental states [Parfit, by Maslin]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 1. Identity and the Self
5514 Psychologists are interested in identity as a type of person, but philosophers study numerical identity [Parfit]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 2. Mental Continuity / b. Self as mental continuity
1393 One of my future selves will not necessarily be me [Parfit]
5521 If my brain-halves are transplanted into two bodies, I have continuity, and don't need identity [Parfit]
5522 Over a period of time what matters is not that 'I' persist, but that I have psychological continuity [Parfit]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 4. Split Consciousness
1392 If we split like amoeba, we would be two people, neither of them being us [Parfit]
5519 It is fine to save two dying twins by merging parts of their bodies into one, and identity is irrelevant [Parfit]
5520 If two humans are merged surgically, the new identity is a purely verbal problem [Parfit]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 5. Concerns of the Self
1391 Concern for our own lives isn't the source of belief in identity, it is the result of it [Parfit]
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self
5518 It doesn't matter whether I exist with half my components replaced (any more than an audio system) [Parfit]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 2. Abstracta by Selection
9981 Abstraction is 'logical' if the sense and truth of the abstraction depend on the concrete [Tait]
9982 Cantor and Dedekind use abstraction to fix grammar and objects, not to carry out proofs [Tait]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence
9985 Abstraction may concern the individuation of the set itself, not its elements [Tait]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 8. Abstractionism Critique
9972 Why should abstraction from two equipollent sets lead to the same set of 'pure units'? [Tait]
9980 If abstraction produces power sets, their identity should imply identity of the originals [Tait]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason
4316 Either all action is rational, or reason dominates, or reason is only concerned with means [Cottingham]
23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 1. Utilitarianism
9762 We should focus less on subjects of experience, and more on the experiences themselves [Parfit]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / d. Causal necessity
4306 For rationalists, it is necessary that effects be deducible from their causes [Cottingham]