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2 ideas
18831 | Medieval logicians said understanding A also involved understanding not-A [Rumfitt] |
Full Idea: Mediaeval logicians had a principle, 'Eadem est scientia oppositorum': in order to attain a clear conception of what it is for A to be the case, one needs to attain a conception of what it is for A not to be the case. | |
From: Ian Rumfitt (The Boundary Stones of Thought [2015], 7.2) | |
A reaction: Presumably 'understanding' has to be a fairly comprehensive grasp of the matter, so understanding the negation sounds like a reasonable requirement for the real thing. |
20189 | Belief is a feeling, independent of the will, which arises from uncontrolled and unknown causes [Hume] |
Full Idea: Belief consists merely in a certain feeling or sentiment; in something, that depends not on the will, but must arise from certain determinate causes and principles, of which we are not master. | |
From: David Hume (Treatise of Human Nature, + Appendix [1740], Appen p.2) | |
A reaction: This is the opposite of Descartes' 'doxastic voluntarism' (i.e. we choose what to believe). If you want to become a Christian, steep yourself in religious literature, and the company of religious people. It will probably work. |