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Ideas for 'Parmenides', 'Letters to Regius' and 'Philosophy of Mind'

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2 ideas

19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / c. Principle of charity
We assume people believe the obvious logical consequences of their known beliefs [Kim]
     Full Idea: We attribute to a subject beliefs that are obvious logical consequences of beliefs already attributed to him.
     From: Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind [1996], p.135)
     A reaction: Depends what you mean by 'obvious'. Presumably they must be judged obvious to the believer, but only if they have thought of them. We can't believe all the simple but quirky implications of our beliefs.
If someone says "I do and don't like x", we don't assume a contradiction [Kim]
     Full Idea: If someone says "I do and I don't like x", we do not take her to be expressing a literally contradictory belief.
     From: Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind [1996], p.135)
     A reaction: It might mean 'one minute I like it, and the next minute I don't', where there seems to be a real contradiction, with a time factor. You can't sustain both preferences with conviction.