more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
It may well be necessary that certain unobserved substances exist as it is, even if we cannot know which they are.
Gist of Idea
We may have to postulate unobservable and unknowable substances
Source
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1041a02)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.226
599 | We may have to postulate unobservable and unknowable substances [Aristotle] |
16629 | By comparing qualities and features, reason can gradually infer the nature of substance [Grosseteste] |
5639 | Spinoza implies that thought is impossible without the notion of substance [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
12704 | Aggregates don’t reduce to points, or atoms, or illusion, so must reduce to substance [Leibniz] |
10710 | We accept substance, to avoid infinite backwards chains of meaning [Wittgenstein, by Potter] |
13042 | If dependence is well-founded, with no infinite backward chains, this implies substances [Potter] |