Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'works', 'The Nature and Communication of Substance' and 'Action, Intention and Reason'

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4 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 3. Contradiction

10121	Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor lack of contradiction a sign of truth [Pascal]
	Full Idea: Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
	From: Blaise Pascal (works [1660]), quoted by A.George / D.J.Velleman - Philosophies of Mathematics Ch.6
	A reaction: [Quoted in Auden and Kronenberger's Book of Aphorisms] Presumably we would now say that contradiction is a purely formal, syntactic notion, and not a semantic one. If you hit a contradiction, something has certainly gone wrong.

17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 5. Parallelism

2596	Maybe mind and body are parallel, like two good clocks [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: Two clocks in perfect agreement must be by natural influence, or the control of a craftsman, or their perfect construction at the beginning. Only the third way (of "preestablished harmony" by God) is possible.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (The Nature and Communication of Substance [1690], p.121)
	A reaction: Presumably 'natural influence' would cover the possibility that (unnoticed by you, apparently) one clock is attached to the other clock at the relevant points. If they are unconnected, presumably they are quite unaware of one another's existence.

20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / c. Reasons as causes

20064	Actions are not mere effects of reasons, but are under their control [Audi,R]
	Full Idea: An action for a reason is one that is, in a special way, under the control of reason. It is a response to, not a mere effect of, a reason.
	From: Robert Audi (Action, Intention and Reason [1992], p.177), quoted by Rowland Stout - Action 6 'Alien'
	A reaction: This modifies Davidson's 'reasons are causes'. Audi has a deviant causal chain which causes trouble for his idea, but Stout says he is right to focus on causal 'processes' (an Aristotelian idea) rather than causal 'chains'.

28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof

2595	If the universe is a perfect agreement of uncommunicating substances, there must be a common source [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: The perfect agreement of so many substances which have no communication whatever with each other can only come from a common source.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (The Nature and Communication of Substance [1690], p.120)