Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Philosophy of Mathematics', 'Outlines of Pyrrhonism' and 'Knowledge'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts

---

2 ideas

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 2. Common Sense Certainty

1889	If an argument has an absurd conclusion, we should not assent to the absurdity, but avoid the absurd argument [Sext.Empiricus]
	Full Idea: If an argument leads to confessedly absurd conclusions, we should not assent to the absurdity just because of the argument, but avoid the argument because of the absurdity.
	From: Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism [c.180], II.252)
	A reaction: cf. G.E.Moore. Denying that you have a hand seems to be an absurdity, but I'm not sure if I can give a criterion for absurdity in such a case. One person's modus ponens is another person's modus tollens.

11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 1. Perceptual Realism / c. Representative realism

1871	Whether honey is essentially sweet may be doubted, as it is a matter of judgement rather than appearance [Sext.Empiricus]
	Full Idea: Honey appears to sceptics to be sweet, but whether it is also sweet in its essence is for us a matter of doubt, since this is not an appearance but a judgement.
	From: Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism [c.180], I.20)