display all the ideas for this combination of texts
5 ideas
2317 | Reductionism is good on light, genes, temperature and transparency [Kim, by PG] |
Full Idea: Examples where reductionism seems to give a good account of things are light, genes, temperature and transparency. | |
From: report of Jaegwon Kim (Mind in a Physical World [1998], §1 p.025) by PG - Db (ideas) | |
A reaction: This a fairly simple examples, thoroughly confirmed by science a long time ago. Life is a nicer example, because it is more complex and less obvious, but pretty much beyond dispute these days. |
2310 | Supervenience is linked to dependence [Kim] |
Full Idea: It is customary to associate supervenience with the idea of dependence or determination. | |
From: Jaegwon Kim (Mind in a Physical World [1998], §1 p.011) | |
A reaction: It is only 'customary' because, in principle, the supervenience might just be a coincidence. I might follow someone everywhere because I love them (dependence) or because they force me to (determination). There's always a reason. |
2315 | Mereological supervenience says wholes are fixed by parts [Kim] |
Full Idea: Mereological supervenience is the doctrine that wholes are fixed by the properties and relations that characterise their parts. | |
From: Jaegwon Kim (Mind in a Physical World [1998], §1 p.018) | |
A reaction: Presumably this would be the opposite of 'holism'. Personally I would take mereological supervenience to be not merely correct, but to be metaphysically necessary. Don't ask me to prove it, of course. |
23463 | Atomic facts correspond to true elementary propositions [Wittgenstein] |
Full Idea: Atomic fact [Sachverhalt] is what corresponds to an elementary proposition [Elementarsatz] if it is true. | |
From: Ludwig Wittgenstein (Letters to Russell [1919], CL 125) | |
A reaction: This is perhaps the key to the Tractatus, because it is the binding point between world and language. A true realist would allow for atomic facts that may go beyond even possible propositions. |
2329 | Causal power is a good way of distinguishing the real from the unreal [Kim] |
Full Idea: A plausible criterion for distinguishing what is real from what is not real is the possession of causal power. | |
From: Jaegwon Kim (Mind in a Physical World [1998], §4 p.119) | |
A reaction: This is, of course, a physicalist view, but for physicalists it is probably the best criterion of what is real. A standard objection to platonism in mathematics is that it denies mathematics causal powers. |