Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Problems in the Explanation of Action', 'Treatise of Human Nature, Appendix' and 'Eudemian Ethics'

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3 ideas

15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 1. Faculties
Courage from spirit is natural and unconquerable, as seen in the young [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: The courage of spirit is the most natural kind; for spirit is unconquerable, which is why the young are the best fighters.
     From: Aristotle (Eudemian Ethics [c.333 BCE], 1229a27)
     A reaction: [thumos, presumably, as in Plato] I suppose Aristotle knows better than me, but I suspect the young are just the quickest and strongest. I'd rather be led by someone with experience than by someone who is young.
Whether the mind has parts is irrelevant, since it obviously has distinct capacities [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: It makes no difference if the soul is divided into parts or lacks parts, as it certainly has distinct capacities.
     From: Aristotle (Eudemian Ethics [c.333 BCE], 1219b32), quoted by Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski - Virtues of the Mind II 3.1
     A reaction: I take this to endorse my view that the mind-body problem is of limited interest to philosophers. The focus should be on what the mind does, not how it is constructed. But then I presume the latter issue is revealed by neuroscience.
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 7. Seeing Resemblance
Hume needs a notion which includes degrees of resemblance [Shoemaker on Hume]
     Full Idea: Hume needs a notion of resemblance where some things resemble a given thing more than other things do, and some may resemble exactly, and some hardly at all.
     From: comment on David Hume (Treatise of Human Nature, + Appendix [1740]) by Sydney Shoemaker - Causality and Properties §02
     A reaction: An astute and simple point. Once you admit degrees of resemblance, of course, then resemblance probably ceases to be a primitive concept in your system, and Hume would be well stuck.