15094
|
I now deny that properties are cluster of powers, and take causal properties as basic [Shoemaker]
|
|
Full Idea:
I now reject the formulation of the causal theory which says that a property is a cluster of conditional powers. That has a reductionist flavour, which is a cheat. We need properties to explain conditional powers, so properties won't reduce.
|
|
From:
Sydney Shoemaker (Causal and Metaphysical Necessity [1998], III)
|
|
A reaction:
[compressed wording] I agree with Mumford and Anjum in preferring his earlier formulation. I think properties are broad messy things, whereas powers can be defined more precisely, and seem to have more stability in nature.
|
12251
|
Substantial forms are not understood, and explain nothing [Descartes]
|
|
Full Idea:
Clearly no explanation can be given by these substantial forms for any natural action, since their defenders admit that they are occult and that they do not understand them themselves, ...so they explain nothing.
|
|
From:
René Descartes (Letters to Regius [1642], 1642.01), quoted by David S. Oderberg - Real Essentialism 267 n5
|
|
A reaction:
[Oderberg gives refs for attack by Locke and Hume, p.66] Descartes' target is Aristotle's hylomorphism. The problem seems to be understanding what Aristotle meant, which is much more than mere 'shape'. More like 'controlling principle'.
|
15099
|
If something is possible, but not nomologically possible, we need metaphysical possibility [Shoemaker]
|
|
Full Idea:
If it is possible that there could be possible states of affairs that are not nomologically possible, don't we therefore need a notion of metaphysical possibility that outruns nomological possibility?
|
|
From:
Sydney Shoemaker (Causal and Metaphysical Necessity [1998], VI)
|
|
A reaction:
Shoemaker rejects this possibility (p.425). I sympathise. So there is 'natural' possibility (my preferred term), which is anything which stuff, if it exists, could do, and 'logical' possibility, which is anything that doesn't lead to contradiction.
|
15101
|
Once you give up necessity as a priori, causal necessity becomes the main type of necessity [Shoemaker]
|
|
Full Idea:
Once the obstacle of the deeply rooted conviction that necessary truths should be knowable a priori is removed, ...causal necessity is (pretheoretically) the very paradigm of necessity, in ordinary usage and in dictionaries.
|
|
From:
Sydney Shoemaker (Causal and Metaphysical Necessity [1998], VII)
|
|
A reaction:
The a priori route seems to lead to logical necessity, just by doing a priori logic, and also to metaphysical necessity, by some sort of intuitive vision. This is a powerful idea of Shoemaker's (implied, of course, in Kripke).
|
15100
|
Imagination reveals conceptual possibility, where descriptions avoid contradiction or incoherence [Shoemaker]
|
|
Full Idea:
Imaginability can give us access to conceptual possibility, when we come to believe situations to be conceptually possible by reflecting on their descriptions and seeing no contradiction or incoherence.
|
|
From:
Sydney Shoemaker (Causal and Metaphysical Necessity [1998], VI)
|
|
A reaction:
If take the absence of contradiction to indicate 'logical' possibility, but the absence of incoherence is more interesting, even if it is a bit vague. He is talking of 'situations', which I take to be features of reality. A priori synthetic?
|
15093
|
We might say laws are necessary by combining causal properties with Armstrong-Dretske-Tooley laws [Shoemaker]
|
|
Full Idea:
One way to get the conclusion that laws are necessary is to combine my view of properties with the view of Armstrong, Dretske and Tooley, that laws are, or assert, relations between properties.
|
|
From:
Sydney Shoemaker (Causal and Metaphysical Necessity [1998], I)
|
|
A reaction:
This is interesting, because Armstrong in particular wants the necessity to arise from relations between properties as universals, but if we define properties causally, and make them necessary, we might get the same result without universals.
|
16772
|
An angelic mind would not experience pain, even when connected to a human body [Descartes, by Pasnau]
|
|
Full Idea:
Descartes points out that an angelic mind, even if causally connected to a human body, would not experience the same sort of bodily sensations; it would, instead, simply observe flesh being torn, like a piece of paper.
|
|
From:
report of René Descartes (Letters to Regius [1642], III:493) by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 25.6
|
|
A reaction:
Does that mean that the angel could not have the experience even if it wanted to have it. So they can't pick up a cup either? So they can't make themselves known to us, even if they are desperate to? So the Annunciation never happened?
|