Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'works', 'Brandom on Social Practices and Representations' and 'Title, Unity, Authenticity of the 'Categories''

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these texts

---

3 ideas

1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 3. Earlier European Philosophy / b. Early medieval philosophy

16137	Earlier views of Aristotle were dominated by 'Categories' [Frede,M]
	Full Idea: For centuries 'Categories' and 'De Interpretatione' (+ Porphyry's 'Isagoge') formed the core of the philosophical corpus still being seriously studied. It is hardly surprising that our received view of Aristotle was coloured substantially by 'Categories'.
	From: Michael Frede (Title, Unity, Authenticity of the 'Categories' [1983], I)
	A reaction: He adds that doubts remain about the authenticity of the second part, and the whole thing bears marks of having been edited.

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy

19090	If we can't check our language against experience, philosophy is just comparing beliefs and words [Rorty]
	Full Idea: If we cannot check our language against non-linguistic awareness, then philosophy can never be more than a discussion of the utility and compatibility of beliefs - and, more particularly, of the various vocabularies in which those beliefs are formulated.
	From: Richard Rorty (Brandom on Social Practices and Representations [1998], iii.127), quoted by Danielle Macbeth - Pragmatism and Objective Truth p.178
	A reaction: I'm amazed at how many people I encounter in philosophy circles (compared with none at all outside those circles) who seem to think that we cannot check our language against our non-linguistic awareness. Rorty is their guru. Weird.

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature

7667	There are two sides to men - the pleasantly social, and the violent and creative [Diderot, by Berlin]
	Full Idea: Diderot is among the first to preach that there are two men: the artificial man, who belongs in society and seeks to please, and the violent, bold, criminal instinct of a man who wishes to break out (and, if controlled, is responsible for works of genius.
	From: report of Denis Diderot (works [1769], Ch.3) by Isaiah Berlin - The Roots of Romanticism
	A reaction: This has an obvious ancestor in Plato's picture (esp. in 'Phaedrus') of the two conflicting sides to the psuché, which seem to be reason and emotion. In Diderot, though, the suppressed man has virtues, which Plato would deny.