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Single Idea 334
[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism
]
Full Idea
Birds are empty-headed men who grew feathers instead of hair, because they were interested in astronomy but thought it was entirely a matter of physical evidence.
Gist of Idea
Only bird-brained people think astronomy is entirely a matter of evidence
Source
Plato (Timaeus [c.349 BCE], 91d)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Timaeus and Critias', ed/tr. Lee,Desmond [Penguin 1971], p.123
The
42 ideas
with the same theme
[reason as ultimate basis of all knowledge]:
430
|
Senses are no use if the soul is corrupt
[Heraclitus]
|
3058
|
Only reason can prove the truth of facts
[Parmenides]
|
20897
|
Obscure knowledge belongs to the five senses, and genuine knowledge is the other type
[Democritus]
|
517
|
All evidence comes from senses, so they are indispensable to the mind
[Democritus]
|
151
|
True knowledge is of the reality behind sense experience
[Plato]
|
2162
|
If theory and practice conflict, the best part of the mind accepts theory, so the other part is of lower grade
[Plato]
|
1637
|
A soul without understanding is ugly
[Plato]
|
2068
|
With what physical faculty do we perceive pairs of opposed abstract qualities?
[Plato]
|
2069
|
Thought must grasp being itself before truth becomes possible
[Plato]
|
2078
|
You might mistake eleven for twelve in your senses, but not in your mind
[Plato]
|
334
|
Only bird-brained people think astronomy is entirely a matter of evidence
[Plato]
|
1726
|
We may think when we wish, but not perceive, because universals are within the mind
[Aristotle]
|
23312
|
Aristotle is a rationalist, but reason is slowly acquired through perception and experience
[Aristotle, by Frede,M]
|
22748
|
Some say motion is perceived by sense, but others say it is by intellect
[Sext.Empiricus]
|
22117
|
Our minds grasp reality by direct illumination (rather than abstraction from experience)
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
20224
|
Sensation prepares the way for intellectual knowledge, which needs the virtues of reason
[Aquinas]
|
3611
|
Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge
[Descartes]
|
2263
|
The wax is not perceived by the senses, but by the mind alone
[Descartes]
|
3627
|
Dogs can make the same judgements as us about variable things
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
2264
|
We don't 'see' men in heavy clothes, we judge them to be men
[Descartes]
|
2265
|
We perceive objects by intellect, not by senses or imagination
[Descartes]
|
22011
|
The first principles of truth are not rational, but are known by the heart
[Pascal]
|
4865
|
The eyes of the mind are proofs
[Spinoza]
|
2110
|
We all expect the sun to rise tomorrow by experience, but astronomers expect it by reason
[Leibniz]
|
4302
|
You may experience a universal truth, but only reason can tell you that it is always true
[Leibniz]
|
12930
|
The senses are confused, and necessities come from distinct intellectual ideas
[Leibniz]
|
12947
|
We only believe in sensible things when reason helps the senses
[Leibniz]
|
5569
|
We cannot represent objects unless we combine concepts with intuitions
[Kant]
|
19572
|
Experiences tests reason, and reason tests experience
[Novalis]
|
15625
|
Sense perception is secondary and dependent, while thought is independent and primitive
[Hegel]
|
21577
|
Empirical truths are particular, so general truths need an a priori input of generality
[Russell]
|
5200
|
The main claim of rationalism is that thought is an independent source of knowledge
[Ayer]
|
4303
|
The notion of substance lies at the heart of rationalist metaphysics
[Cottingham]
|
8880
|
In reducing arithmetic to self-evident logic, logicism is in sympathy with rationalism
[Sosa]
|
2504
|
Rationalism can be based on an evolved computational brain with innate structure
[Fodor]
|
3704
|
Moderate rationalists believe in fallible a priori justification
[Bonjour]
|
3707
|
Our rules of thought can only be judged by pure rational insight
[Bonjour]
|
2729
|
Virtually all rationalists assert that we can have knowledge of synthetic a priori truths
[Audi,R]
|
2741
|
The principles of justification have to be a priori
[Audi,R]
|
8725
|
Rationalism tries to apply mathematical methodology to all of knowledge
[Shapiro]
|
17705
|
Empiricists say rationalists mistake imaginative powers for modal insights
[Mares]
|
6576
|
My view is 'circumspect rationalism' - that only our intellect can comprehend the world
[Fogelin]
|