Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Causes and Events: Mackie on causation' and 'Julius Caesar'

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5 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 1. On Reason

22708	Good reasons must give way to better [Shakespeare]
	Full Idea: Good reasons must of force give way to better.
	From: William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar [1599], 4.3.205)
	A reaction: [Brutus to Cassius] This remark is an axiom of rationality. But, of course, reasons can come in groups, and three modest reasons may compete with one very good reason.

7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 4. Events / c. Reduction of events

4779	For Kim, events are exemplifications of properties by objects at particular times [Kim, by Psillos]
	Full Idea: A dominant view, attributed mainly to Kim, is that events are exemplifications of properties by objects at particular times.
	From: report of Jaegwon Kim (Causes and Events: Mackie on causation [1971]) by Stathis Psillos - Causation and Explanation §2.6
	A reaction: The obvious thought is that we might not describe something as an 'event' just because a property was exemplified (seeing red?). And WWII was an event, but a bit more than a 'property exemplification'.

20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / b. Volitionism

20304	The cause of my action is in my will [Shakespeare]
	Full Idea: The cause is in my will. I will not come./That is enough to satisfy the senate./But for your private satisfaction,/Because I love you, I will let you know.
	From: William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar [1599], II.ii)
	A reaction: This asserts the purest form of volitionism, but then qualifies it, because Caesar's will has been influenced by his wife's dreams.

26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 5. Infinite in Nature

1748	Archelaus was the first person to say that the universe is boundless [Archelaus, by Diog. Laertius]
	Full Idea: Archelaus was the first person to say that the universe is boundless.
	From: report of Archelaus (fragments/reports [c.450 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 02.Ar.3

27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution

5989	Archelaus said life began in a primeval slime [Archelaus, by Schofield]
	Full Idea: Archelaus wrote that life on Earth began in a primeval slime.
	From: report of Archelaus (fragments/reports [c.450 BCE]) by Malcolm Schofield - Archelaus
	A reaction: This sounds like a fairly clearcut assertion of the production of life by evolution. Darwin's contribution was to propose the mechanism for achieving it. We should honour the name of Archelaus for this idea.