4 ideas
21855 | Only in the 1780s did it become acceptable to read Spinoza [Lord] |
Full Idea: It was not until the 1780s that it became acceptable to read the works of Spinoza, and even then it was not without a frisson of danger. | |
From: Beth Lord (Spinoza's Ethics [2010], Intro 'Who?') | |
A reaction: Hence we hear of Wordsworth and Coleridge reading him with excitement. So did Kant read him? |
21548 | The null class is the class with all the non-existents as its members [MacColl, by Lackey] |
Full Idea: In 1905 the Scottish logician Hugh MacColl published a paper in which he argued that the null class in logic should be taken as the class with all the non-existents as its members. | |
From: report of Hugh MacColl (Symbolic Reasoning [1905]) by Douglas Lackey - Intros to Russell's 'Essays in Analysis' p.95 | |
A reaction: For the null object (zero) Frege just chose one sample concept with an empty extension. MacColl's set seems to have a lot of members, given that it is 'null'. How many, I wonder? Russell responded to this paper. |
21866 | Hobbes and Spinoza use 'conatus' to denote all endeavour for advantage in nature [Lord] |
Full Idea: 'Conatus' [translated as 'striving' by Curley] is used by early modern philosophers, including Thomas Hobbes (a major influence of Spinoza), to express the notion of a thing's endeavour for what is advantageous to it. It drives all things in nature. | |
From: Beth Lord (Spinoza's Ethics [2010], p.88) | |
A reaction: I think it is important to connect conatus to Nietzsche's talk of a plurality of 'drives', which are an expression of the universal will to power (which is seen even in the interactions of chemistry). Conatus is also in Leibniz. |
7907 | Human killing is worse if the victim is virtuous [Buddhaghosa] |
Full Idea: In the case of humans killing is the more blameworthy the more virtuous the victim is. | |
From: Buddhaghosa (Papancasudani [c.400], 9.7-10) | |
A reaction: This sentiment has almost become a taboo in western society, and yet it is present all the time. The greatest outcry is about murders of really good citizens. Occasionally the murder of a villain causes little regret. |