|
16618
|
Intellectual and moral states, and even the soul itself, depend on prime matter for their existence [Blasius, by Pasnau]
|
|
Full Idea:
Blasius argued that prime matter is the subject of all our intellectual and moral states. This implies that such states cannot exist apart from the body, which seems to imply further that the soul itself cannot exist apart from the body.
|
|
From:
report of Blasius of Parma (Les quaestiones de anima (lectures on the soul) [1385], I.8 p.65) by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 06.3
|
|
A reaction:
It seems that, under pressure, Blasius recanted this view in lectures given eleven years later.
|
|
23261
|
A people, not government, creates a constitution, which is essential for legitimacy [Paine]
|
|
Full Idea:
A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government, and a government without a constitution is power without right.
|
|
From:
Thomas Paine (Rights of Man [1792], Ch.7), quoted by A.C. Grayling - The Good State 5
|
|
A reaction:
A constitution looks like the ultimate focus of a social contract (though Greeks had them long ago). It is hard to say why a government should consider itself to be sovereign if it hasn't got it in writing.
|