Combining Texts

Ideas for 'General Draft', 'Self-Reliance' and 'works'

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2 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 1. On Reason
For clear questions posed by reason, reason can also find clear answers [Gödel]
     Full Idea: I uphold the belief that for clear questions posed by reason, reason can also find clear answers.
     From: Kurt Gödel (works [1930]), quoted by Peter Koellner - On the Question of Absolute Undecidability 1.5
     A reaction: [written in 1961] This contradicts the implication normally taken from his much earlier Incompleteness Theorems.
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 9. Limits of Reason
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds [Emerson]
     Full Idea: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.
     From: Ralph Waldo Emerson (Self-Reliance [1841], p.37)
     A reaction: A remark to warm the hearts of pragmatists, Wittgensteinians, Nietzscheans and the post-modern mob. But pay careful attention to the word "foolish". Robert Fogelin gives a very balanced view of the matter (e.g. Idea 6557).