Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Theology and Falsification' and 'Contemporary Efficient Causation: Aristotelian themes'

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5 ideas

21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.]
     Full Idea: In singing and playing the lyre, a boy will be likely to reveal not only courage and moderation, but also justice.
     From: Damon (fragments/reports [c.460 BCE], B4), quoted by (who?) - where?
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 1. Causation
Causation interests us because we want to explain change [Mumford]
     Full Idea: Like Aristotle, the reason we are really interested in causation is because we want to be able to explain change.
     From: Stephen Mumford (Contemporary Efficient Causation: Aristotelian themes [2014], 8)
     A reaction: This pinpoints a very important and simple idea. It raises the question (among others) of whether we have just invented this thing called 'causation', because no explanation of change was visible. Hume certainly couldn't see any explanation.
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / b. Religious Meaning
Claims about God don't seem to claim or deny anything tangible, so evidence is irrelevant [Flew, by PG]
     Full Idea: An assertion is logically equivalent to denying its opposite, but claims about a 'gardener', or God, make neither claims nor denials of anything, so no evidence can count against the claim, or for it.
     From: report of Antony Flew (Theology and Falsification [1950]) by PG - Db (ideas)
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / d. Religious Falsification
You can't claim a patch of land is tended by a 'gardener' if there is no evidence, and all counter-evidence is rejected [Flew, by PG]
     Full Idea: If someone claimed a patch of land was tended by a 'gardener', but there was never a shred of evidence to support this view, the claim would gradually dissolve into meaninglessness, especially if it was suggested that evidence was irrelevant.
     From: report of Antony Flew (Theology and Falsification [1950]) by PG - Db (ideas)
Religious people seem unwilling to accept any evidence that God does not love us, so their claim is unfalsifiable [Flew, by PG]
     Full Idea: Religious people seem unwilling to accept any evidence which shows that God does not love us, so what would they accept? If nothing counts that way, their claim is unfalsifiable, and hence meaningless.
     From: report of Antony Flew (Theology and Falsification [1950]) by PG - Db (ideas)