Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'fragments/reports' and 'Ontological Dependence'

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3 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / c. Philosophy as generalisation

14255	We understand things through their dependency relations [Fine,K]
	Full Idea: We understand a defined object (what it is) through the objects on which it depends.
	From: Kit Fine (Ontological Dependence [1995], II)
	A reaction: This places dependency relations right at the heart of our understanding of the world, and hence shifts traditional metaphysics away from existence and identity. The notion of explanation is missing from Fine's account.

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 6. Hopes for Philosophy

1749	If all laws were abolished, philosophers would still live as they do now [Aristippus elder]
	Full Idea: If all laws were abolished, philosophers would still live as they do now.
	From: Aristippus the elder (fragments/reports [c.395 BCE]), quoted by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 02.Ar.4
	A reaction: Presumably philosophers develop inner laws which other people lack.

1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 1. Nature of Metaphysics

14250	Metaphysics deals with the existence of things and with the nature of things [Fine,K]
	Full Idea: Metaphysics has two main areas of concern: one is with the nature of things, with what they are; and the other is with the existence of things, with whether they are.
	From: Kit Fine (Ontological Dependence [1995], I)
	A reaction: This paper is part of a movement which has shifted metaphysics to a third target - how things relate to one another. The possibility that this third aim should be the main one seems quite plausible to me.