Combining Texts

Ideas for 'works', 'The Theodicy' and 'Paraconsistent Logic'

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5 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 2. Logos

1575	For Aristotle logos is essentially the ability to talk rationally about questions of value [Roochnik on Aristotle]
	Full Idea: For Aristotle logos is the ability to speak rationally about, with the hope of attaining knowledge, questions of value.
	From: comment on Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by David Roochnik - The Tragedy of Reason p.26

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 3. Pure Reason

19335	Reasonings have a natural ordering in God's understanding, but only a temporal order in ours [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: All reasonings are eminent in God, and they preserve an order among themselves in his understanding as well as in ours; but for him this is just an order and a priority of nature, whereas for us there is a priority of time.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (The Theodicy [1710], p.192), quoted by Franklin Perkins - Leibniz: Guide for the Perplexed 2.III
	A reaction: This view is found in Frege, and seems to be the hallmark of rationalist philosophy. There is an apriori assumption that reality has a rational order, so that pure reason is a tool for grasping it. Lewis's 'mosaic' of experiences has no order.

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 4. Aims of Reason

1589	Aristotle is the supreme optimist about the ability of logos to explain nature [Roochnik on Aristotle]
	Full Idea: Aristotle is the great theoretician who articulates a vision of a world in which natural and stable structures can be rationally discovered. His is the most optimistic and richest view of the possibilities of logos
	From: comment on Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by David Roochnik - The Tragedy of Reason p.95

2. Reason / D. Definition / 4. Real Definition

8200	Aristotelian definitions aim to give the essential properties of the thing defined [Aristotle, by Quine]
	Full Idea: A real definition, according to the Aristotelian tradition, gives the essence of the kind of thing defined. Man is defined as a rational animal, and thus rationality and animality are of the essence of each of us.
	From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Willard Quine - Vagaries of Definition p.51
	A reaction: Compare Idea 4385. Personally I prefer the Aristotelian approach, but we may have to say 'We cannot identify the essence of x, and so x cannot be defined'. Compare 'his mood was hard to define' with 'his mood was hostile'.

2. Reason / D. Definition / 5. Genus and Differentia

4385	Aristotelian definition involves first stating the genus, then the differentia of the thing [Aristotle, by Urmson]
	Full Idea: For Aristotle, to give a definition one must first state the genus and then the differentia of the kind of thing to be defined.
	From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by J.O. Urmson - Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean p.157
	A reaction: Presumably a modern definition would just be a list of properties, but Aristotle seeks the substance. How does he define a genus? - by placing it in a further genus?