Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Intro to Naming,Necessity and Natural Kinds', 'Anthropological Studies of Classification' and 'fragments/reports'

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2 ideas

13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 2. Justification Challenges / c. Knowledge closure
Sphaerus he was not assenting to the presence of pomegranates, but that it was 'reasonable' [Sphaerus, by Diog. Laertius]
     Full Idea: When Sphaerus accepted pomegranates from the king, he was accused of assenting to a false presentation, to which Sphaerus replied that what he had assented to was not that they were pomegranates, but that it was reasonable that they were pomegranates.
     From: report of Sphaerus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.177
     A reaction: He then cited the stoic distinction between a 'graspable' presentation and a 'reasonable' one. This seems a rather helpful response to Dretske's zebra problem. I like the word 'sensible' in epistemology, because animals can be sensible.
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 4. Cultural relativism
Classification is no longer held to be rooted in social institutions [Ellen]
     Full Idea: The view that all classification finds its roots in social institutions is now generally considered untenable.
     From: Roy Ellen (Anthropological Studies of Classification [1996], p.36)
     A reaction: And about time too. Ellen (an anthropologist) inevitably emphasises the complexity of the situation, but endorses the idea that people everywhere largely cut nature at the joints.