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Single Idea 543
[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism
]
Full Idea
By nature, all men long to understand [eidenai]; an indication is their delight in the senses.
Clarification
'Nature' is the Greek word 'physis'
Gist of Idea
All men long to understand, as shown by their delight in the senses
Source
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 0980a21)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.4
A Reaction
See Idea 8331 and Idea 12038 to understand what this means. I take it to support the thesis that the aim of philosophy is explanations (at a higher level of generality than the sciences).
Related Ideas
Idea 18226
For Aristotle, contemplation consists purely of understanding [Korsgaard]
Idea 12038
Translate as 'humans all desire by nature to understand' (not as 'to know') [Aristotle, by Annas]
Idea 8331
To know something we need understanding, which is grasp of the primary cause [Aristotle]
The
20 ideas
with the same theme
[reasons for favouring the empirical view of knowledge]:
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1500
|
When we sleep, reason closes down as the senses do
[Heraclitus, by Sext.Empiricus]
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543
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All men long to understand, as shown by their delight in the senses
[Aristotle]
|
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1822
|
Reason can't judge senses, as it is based on them
[Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
|
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5702
|
The senses are much the best way to distinguish true from false
[Lucretius]
|
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5729
|
If the senses are deceptive, reason, which rests on them, is even worse
[Lucretius]
|
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16637
|
The absolute boundaries of our thought are the ideas we get from senses and the mind
[Locke]
|
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3938
|
Geometry is originally perceived by senses, and so is not purely intellectual
[Berkeley]
|
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2183
|
We can only invent a golden mountain by combining experiences
[Hume]
|
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2186
|
We cannot form the idea of something we haven't experienced
[Hume]
|
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2194
|
How could Adam predict he would drown in water or burn in fire?
[Hume]
|
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2702
|
Only madmen dispute the authority of experience
[Hume]
|
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2205
|
You couldn't reason at all if you lacked experience
[Hume]
|
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2217
|
When definitions are pushed to the limit, only experience can make them precise
[Hume]
|
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21285
|
Events are baffling before experience, and obvious after experience
[Hume]
|
|
6577
|
For Kant, our conceptual scheme is disastrous when it reaches beyond experience
[Kant, by Fogelin]
|
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16925
|
Appearance gives truth, as long as it is only used within experience
[Kant]
|
|
12108
|
All real knowledge rests on observed facts
[Comte]
|
|
9082
|
Clear concepts result from good observation, extensive experience, and accurate memory
[Mill]
|
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5185
|
It is further sense-experience which informs us of the mistakes that arise out of sense-experience
[Ayer]
|
|
21685
|
Empiricism says evidence rests on the senses, but that insight is derived from science
[Quine]
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