Combining Texts

Ideas for 'works', 'Principles of Philosophy' and 'A Free Will'

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

display all the ideas for this combination of texts

2 ideas

12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 1. Nature of the A Priori
11239 The notion of a priori truth is absent in Aristotle [Aristotle, by Politis]
     Full Idea: The notion of a priori truth is conspicuously absent in Aristotle.
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Vassilis Politis - Aristotle and the Metaphysics 1.5
     A reaction: Cf. Idea 11240.
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 4. A Priori as Necessities
5012 'Nothing comes from nothing' is an eternal truth found within the mind [Descartes]
     Full Idea: The proposition 'nothing comes from nothing' is not to be considered as an existing thing, or the mode of a thing, but as a certain eternal truth which has its seat in our mind and is a common notion or axiom.
     From: René Descartes (Principles of Philosophy [1646], I.49)
     A reaction: There is a tension here, in his assertion that it is 'eternal', but 'not existing'. How does one distinguish an innate idea from an innate truth? 'Eternal' sounds like an external guarantee of truth, but being 'in our mind' sounds less reliable.