Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Friendship' and 'Introduction to Philosophical Papers II'

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4 ideas

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 5. Supervenience / d. Humean supervenience
Humean supervenience says the world is just a vast mosaic of qualities in space-time [Lewis]
     Full Idea: Humean supervenience says the world is a vast mosaic of local matters of particular fact. We have a geometry of external relations of spatio-temporal distance between points, and local qualities at points. …In short: we have an arrangement of qualities.
     From: David Lewis (Introduction to Philosophical Papers II [1986], p.ix-x)
     A reaction: [compressed] This is the key fundamental tenet of David Lewis's philosophy. He names it after Hume because it contains no necessary connections. It is 'supervenient' because all worldly truths reduce to and depend on the mosaic. His thesis is contingent.
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?
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / d. Friendship
Friendship is partly universal - the love of a person is like the ideal of loving everyone [Weil]
     Full Idea: Friendship has something universal about it. It consists in loving a human being as we should like to be able to love each soul in particular of all those who go to make up the human race.
     From: Simone Weil (Friendship [1940], p.288)
     A reaction: Hm. Would you like your lover to dream of loving the human race, rather than just loving you? Perhaps only a Christian could see friendship in this way?
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 11. Against Laws of Nature
The world is just a vast mosaic of little matters of local particular fact [Lewis]
     Full Idea: The world is a vast mosaic of local matters of particular fact, just one little thing and then another.
     From: David Lewis (Introduction to Philosophical Papers II [1986])
     A reaction: Basing laws on this picture is what Lewis calls 'Humean Supervenience'.