Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Changes in Events and Changes in Things', 'Noneism or Allism?' and 'How to be a Liberal'

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11 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / G. Quantification / 4. Substitutional Quantification

15533	We can quantify over fictions by quantifying for real over their names [Lewis]
	Full Idea: Substitutionalists simulate quantification over fictional characters by quantifying for real over fictional names.
	From: David Lewis (Noneism or Allism? [1990], p.159)
	A reaction: I would say that a fiction is a file of conceptual information, identified by a label. The label brings baggage with it, and there is no existence in the label.

5. Theory of Logic / G. Quantification / 7. Unorthodox Quantification

15534	We could quantify over impossible objects - as bundles of properties [Lewis]
	Full Idea: We can quantify over Meinongian objects by quantifying for real over property bundles (such as the bundle of roundness and squareness).
	From: David Lewis (Noneism or Allism? [1990], p.159)

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 1. Nature of Existence

15532	'Allists' embrace the existence of all controversial entities; 'noneists' reject all but the obvious ones [Lewis]
	Full Idea: An expansive friend of the controversial entities who says they all exist may be called an 'allist'; a tough desert-dweller who says that none of them exist may be called a 'noneist'.
	From: David Lewis (Noneism or Allism? [1990], p.152)
	A reaction: Lewis gives examples of the obvious and the controversial entities. Lewis implies that he himself is in between. The word 'desert' is a reference to Quine.

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 2. Types of Existence

15535	We can't accept a use of 'existence' that says only some of the things there are actually exist [Lewis]
	Full Idea: If 'existence' is understood so that it can be a substantive thesis that only some of the things there are exist, we will have none of it.
	From: David Lewis (Noneism or Allism? [1990], p.163)
	A reaction: Lewis is a strong advocate, following Quine, of the univocal sense of the word 'exist', and I agree with them.

7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 8. Facts / b. Types of fact

15201	That Queen Anne is dead is a 'general fact', not a fact about Queen Anne [Prior,AN]
	Full Idea: The fact that Queen Anne has been dead for some years is not, in the strict sense of 'about', a fact about Queen Anne; it is not a fact about anyone or anything - it is a general fact.
	From: Arthur N. Prior (Changes in Events and Changes in Things [1968], p.13), quoted by Robin Le Poidevin - Past, Present and Future of Debate about Tense 1 b
	A reaction: He distinguishes 'general facts' (states of affairs, I think) from 'individual facts', involving some specific object. General facts seem to be what are expressed by negative existential truths, such as 'there is no Loch Ness Monster'. Useful.

24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / d. General will

22594	In 1794 France all individual and legal rights were suppressed by the general will [Dunt]
	Full Idea: In the French Revolution the general will replaced democracy, the separation of powers, the rule of law, and individual rights.
	From: Ian Dunt (How to be a Liberal [2020], 03)
	A reaction: I had some sympathy with the idea of the general will, but Dunt has persuaded me otherwise. It is the embodiment of the democratic problem of the tyranny of the majority.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / a. Liberalism basics

22602	Over several centuries a set of eight main liberal values was established [Dunt]
	Full Idea: Over the centuries liberal values were established: freedom of the individual, reason, consent in government, individual rights, the separation of powers, protection of minorities, autonomy, and moderation.
	From: Ian Dunt (How to be a Liberal [2020], 13)
	A reaction: What's not to like? 'Moderation' might be a sticking point, for anyone who thinks that very large social changes are needed.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / d. Liberal freedom

22596	No government, or the whole nation, can control an individual beyond legitimate scope [Dunt]
	Full Idea: When a government of any sort puts a threatening hand on that part of individual life beyond its proper scope, …even if it were the whole nation, except for the man it is harassing, it would be no more legitimate for that.
	From: Ian Dunt (How to be a Liberal [2020]), quoted by Ian Dunt - How to be a Liberal 4
	A reaction: The obvious question is what counts as 'proper scope' - and who gets to define it? If the individual can define that, then criminals can appeal to this principle. The state must be persuaded of it, then asked to stick to it during conflicts.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / g. Liberalism critique

22603	Laissez-faire liberalism failed to give people the protections and freedoms needed for a good life [Dunt]
	Full Idea: Laissez-faire liberalism failed, because it did not offer people protections and real freedom - against discrimination, insecure work, educational disadvantage, lack of social respect, absence of representation. It was cold, distant, and ineffective.
	From: Ian Dunt (How to be a Liberal [2020], 13)
	A reaction: A very nice summary, which I take to be correct.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 14. Nationalism

22592	Nationalism pretends that we can only have a single identity [Dunt]
	Full Idea: Nationalism pretends that there is only one identity, that we cannot be more than one thing at once.
	From: Ian Dunt (How to be a Liberal [2020], Today)
	A reaction: Dunt is a defender of liberalism, which assumes a wide degree of pluralism. Could I be a British citizen, but love France more than Britain? I don’t see why not, but it is not an ideal situation.

27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / e. Tensed (A) series

22899	'Thank goodness that's over' is not like 'thank goodness that happened on Friday' [Prior,AN]
	Full Idea: One says 'thank goodness that is over', ..and it says something which it is impossible which any use of any tenseless copula with a date should convey. It certainly doesn't mean the same as 'thank goodness that occured on Friday June 15th 1954'.
	From: Arthur N. Prior (Changes in Events and Changes in Things [1968]), quoted by Adrian Bardon - Brief History of the Philosophy of Time 4 'Pervasive'
	A reaction: [Ref uncertain] This seems to be appealing to ordinary usage, in which tenses have huge significance. If we take time (with its past, present and future) as primitive, then tenses can have full weight. Did tenses mean anything at all to Einstein?