Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Sign of Four', 'Kant's Analytic' and 'Representative Government'

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6 ideas

14. Science / C. Induction / 1. Induction

22200	If you eliminate the impossible, the truth will remain, even if it is weird [Conan Doyle]
	Full Idea: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
	From: Arthur Conan Doyle (The Sign of Four [1890], Ch. 6)
	A reaction: A beautiful statement, by Sherlock Holmes, of Eliminative Induction. It is obviously not true, of course. Many options may still face you after you have eliminated what is actually impossible.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / b. Consultation

20508	How people vote should be on public record, so they can be held accountable [Mill, by Wolff,J]
	Full Idea: Mill believed in an open vote. People should be held accountable for how they vote, and therefore it should be a matter of public record.
	From: report of John Stuart Mill (Representative Government [1861]) by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 3 'Representative'
	A reaction: Nowadays it is a mantra that voting should be secret, because coercion is an obvious problem, but MPs vote publicly, and are held accountable for their voting records. People like the mafia seem to make open public voting impossible.

20507	Voting is a strict duty, like jury service, and must only be aimed at the public good [Mill]
	Full Idea: The citizen's vote is not a thing in which he has an option; it has no more to do with his personal wishes than the verdict of a juryman. ...he is bound to give it according to his best and most conscientious opinion of the public good.
	From: John Stuart Mill (Representative Government [1861], p.299), quoted by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 3 'Representative'
	A reaction: Mill was also concerned that voters might pursue 'class interest' (which they currently do, big time).

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / c. Direct democracy

20505	Direct democracy is inexperience judging experience, and ignorance judging knowledge [Mill]
	Full Idea: At its best [direct democracy] is inexperience sitting in judgement on experience, ignorance on knowledge.
	From: John Stuart Mill (Representative Government [1861], p.232), quoted by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 4 'Representative'
	A reaction: Recent experiments have suggested that inexperienced people can become very good at making large decisions, if they are allowed to consult experts when they want to. See Van Reybrouck's 'Against Elections'.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / d. Representative democracy

20504	People can only participate in decisions in small communities, so representatives are needed [Mill]
	Full Idea: Since all cannot, in a community exceeding a single small town, participate personally in any but some very minor portions of the public business, it follows that the ideal type of a perfect government must be representative.
	From: John Stuart Mill (Representative Government [1861], p.217-8), quoted by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 4 'Representative'
	A reaction: Wolff offers Mill as the principal spokesman for representative democracy. It is not only the difficulty of achieving participation, but also the slowness of decision-making. Modern technology may be changing all of this.

27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 4. Substantival Space

8592	Empty space is measurable in ways in which empty time necessarily is not [Bennett, by Shoemaker]
	Full Idea: Because of the multidimensionality of space and unidimensionality of time, empty space is measurable in ways in which empty time necessarily is not.
	From: report of Jonathan Bennett (Kant's Analytic [1966], p.175) by Sydney Shoemaker - Time Without Change p.49 n4
	A reaction: An interesting observation, which could have been used by Samuel Clarke in his attempts to prove absolute space to Leibniz. The point does not prove absolute space, of course, but it seems to make a difference.