64 ideas
22285 | Impredicative definitions are circular, but fine for picking out, rather than creating something [Potter] |
Full Idea: The circularity in a definition where the property being defined is used in the definition is now known as 'impredicativity'. ...Some cases ('the tallest man in the room') are unproblematic, as they pick him out, and don't conjure him into existence. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 07 'Impred') | |
A reaction: [part summary] |
22301 | The Identity Theory says a proposition is true if it coincides with what makes it true [Potter] |
Full Idea: The Identity Theory of truth says a proposition is true just in case it coincides with what makes it true. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 23 'Abs') | |
A reaction: The obvious question is how 'there are trees in the wood' can somehow 'coincide with' or 'be identical to' the situation outside my window. The theory is sort of right, but we will never define the relationship, which is no better than 'corresponds'. |
22324 | It has been unfortunate that externalism about truth is equated with correspondence [Potter] |
Full Idea: There has been an unfortunate tendency in the secondary literature to equate externalism about truth with the correspondence theory. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 65 'Truth') | |
A reaction: Quite helpful to distinguish internalist from externalist theories of truth. It is certainly the case that robust externalist views of truth have unfortunately been discredited merely because the correspondence account is inadequate. |
10073 | There cannot be a set theory which is complete [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: By Gödel's First Incompleteness Theorem, there cannot be a negation-complete set theory. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 01.3) | |
A reaction: This means that we can never prove all the truths of a system of set theory. |
10616 | Second-order arithmetic can prove new sentences of first-order [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Going second-order in arithmetic enables us to prove new first-order arithmetical sentences that we couldn't prove before. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 23.4) | |
A reaction: The wages of Satan, perhaps. We can prove things about objects by proving things about their properties and sets and functions. Smith says this fact goes all the way up the hierarchy. |
22279 | Frege's sign |--- meant judgements, but the modern |- turnstile means inference, with intecedents [Potter] |
Full Idea: Natural deduction systems generally depend on conditional proof, but for Frege everything is asserted unconditionally. The modern turnstile |- is allowed to have antecedents, and hence to represent inference rather than Frege's judgement sign |---. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 03 'Axioms') | |
A reaction: [compressed] Shockingly, Frege's approach seems more psychological than the modern approach. I would say that the whole point of logic is that it has to be conditional, because the truth of the antecedents is irrelevant. |
22291 | Deductivism can't explain how the world supports unconditional conclusions [Potter] |
Full Idea: Deductivism is a good account of large parts of mathematics, but stumbles where mathematics is directly applicable to the world. It fails to explain how we detach the antecedent so as to arrive at unconditional conclusions. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 12 'Deduc') | |
A reaction: I suppose the reply would be that we have designed deductive structures which fit our understanding of reality - so it is all deductive, but selected pragmatically. |
10605 | Two functions are the same if they have the same extension [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: We count two functions as being the same if they have the same extension, i.e. if they pair up arguments with values in the same way. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 11.3) | |
A reaction: So there's only one way to skin a cat in mathematical logic. |
10076 | The 'range' of a function is the set of elements in the output set created by the function [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The 'range' of a function is the set of elements in the output set that are values of the function for elements in the original set. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.1) | |
A reaction: In other words, the range is the set of values that were created by the function. |
10075 | A 'partial function' maps only some elements to another set [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A 'partial function' is one which maps only some elements of a domain to elements in another set. For example, the reciprocal function 1/x is not defined for x=0. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.1 n1) |
10612 | An argument is a 'fixed point' for a function if it is mapped back to itself [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: If a function f maps the argument a back to a itself, so that f(a) = a, then a is said to be a 'fixed point' for f. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 20.5) |
10074 | A 'total function' maps every element to one element in another set [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A 'total function' is one which maps every element of a domain to exactly one corresponding value in another set. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.1) |
10615 | The Comprehension Schema says there is a property only had by things satisfying a condition [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The so-called Comprehension Schema ∃X∀x(Xx ↔ φ(x)) says that there is a property which is had by just those things which satisfy the condition φ. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 22.3) |
10595 | A 'theorem' of a theory is a sentence derived from the axioms using the proof system [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: 'Theorem': given a derivation of the sentence φ from the axioms of the theory T using the background logical proof system, we will say that φ is a 'theorem' of the theory. Standard abbreviation is T |- φ. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 03.4) |
10602 | A 'natural deduction system' has no axioms but many rules [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A 'natural deduction system' will have no logical axioms but may rules of inference. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 09.1) | |
A reaction: He contrasts this with 'Hilbert-style systems', which have many axioms but few rules. Natural deduction uses many assumptions which are then discharged, and so tree-systems are good for representing it. |
10613 | No nice theory can define truth for its own language [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: No nice theory can define truth for its own language. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 21.5) | |
A reaction: This leads on to Tarski's account of truth. |
22295 | Modern logical truths are true under all interpretations of the non-logical words [Potter] |
Full Idea: In the modern definition, a 'logical truth' is true under every interpretation of the non-logical words it contains. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 19 'Frege's') | |
A reaction: What if the non-logical words are nonsense, or are used inconsistently ('good'), or ambiguously ('bank'), or vaguely ('bald'), or with unsure reference ('the greatest philosopher' becomes 'Bentham')? What qualifies as an 'interpretation'? |
10077 | A 'surjective' ('onto') function creates every element of the output set [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A 'surjective' function is 'onto' - the whole of the output set results from the function being applied to elements of the original set. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.1) |
10078 | An 'injective' ('one-to-one') function creates a distinct output element from each original [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: An 'injective' function is 'one-to-one' - each element of the output set results from a different element of the original set. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.1) | |
A reaction: That is, two different original elements cannot lead to the same output element. |
10079 | A 'bijective' function has one-to-one correspondence in both directions [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A 'bijective' function has 'one-to-one correspondence' - it is both surjective and injective, so that every element in each of the original and the output sets has a matching element in the other. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.1) | |
A reaction: Note that 'injective' is also one-to-one, but only in the one direction. |
10070 | If everything that a theory proves is true, then it is 'sound' [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: If everything that a theory proves must be true, then it is a 'sound' theory. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 01.1) |
10086 | Soundness is true axioms and a truth-preserving proof system [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Soundness is normally a matter of having true axioms and a truth-preserving proof system. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 03.4) | |
A reaction: The only exception I can think of is if a theory consisted of nothing but the axioms. |
10596 | A theory is 'sound' iff every theorem is true (usually from true axioms and truth-preservation) [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A theory is 'sound' iff every theorem of it is true (i.e. true on the interpretation built into its language). Soundness is normally a matter of having true axioms and a truth-preserving proof system. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 03.4) |
10069 | A theory is 'negation complete' if one of its sentences or its negation can always be proved [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Logicians say that a theory T is '(negation) complete' if, for every sentence φ in the language of the theory, either φ or ¬φ is deducible in T's proof system. If this were the case, then truth could be equated with provability. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 01.1) | |
A reaction: The word 'negation' seems to be a recent addition to the concept. Presumable it might be the case that φ can always be proved, but not ¬φ. |
10598 | A theory is 'negation complete' if it proves all sentences or their negation [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A theory is 'negation complete' if it decides every sentence of its language (either the sentence, or its negation). | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 03.4) |
10597 | 'Complete' applies both to whole logics, and to theories within them [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: There is an annoying double-use of 'complete': a logic may be semantically complete, but there may be an incomplete theory expressed in it. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 03.4) |
10609 | Two routes to Incompleteness: semantics of sound/expressible, or syntax of consistency/proof [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: There are two routes to Incompleteness results. One goes via the semantic assumption that we are dealing with sound theories, using a result about what they can express. The other uses the syntactic notion of consistency, with stronger notions of proof. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 18.1) |
10080 | 'Effective' means simple, unintuitive, independent, controlled, dumb, and terminating [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: An 'effectively decidable' (or 'computable') algorithm will be step-by-small-step, with no need for intuition, or for independent sources, with no random methods, possible for a dumb computer, and terminates in finite steps. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.2) | |
A reaction: [a compressed paragraph] |
10087 | A theory is 'decidable' if all of its sentences could be mechanically proved [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A theory is 'decidable' iff there is a mechanical procedure for determining whether any sentence of its language can be proved. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 03.4) | |
A reaction: Note that it doesn't actually have to be proved. The theorems of the theory are all effectively decidable. |
10088 | Any consistent, axiomatized, negation-complete formal theory is decidable [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Any consistent, axiomatized, negation-complete formal theory is decidable. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 03.6) |
10081 | A set is 'enumerable' is all of its elements can result from a natural number function [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A set is 'enumerable' iff either the set is empty, or there is a surjective function to the set from the set of natural numbers, so that the set is in the range of that function. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.3) |
10601 | The thorems of a nice arithmetic can be enumerated, but not the truths (so they're diffferent) [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The theorems of any properly axiomatized theory can be effectively enumerated. However, the truths of any sufficiently expressive arithmetic can't be effectively enumerated. Hence the theorems and truths of arithmetic cannot be the same. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 05 Intro) |
10084 | A finite set of finitely specifiable objects is always effectively enumerable (e.g. primes) [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A finite set of finitely specifiable objects is always effectively enumerable (for example, the prime numbers). | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.4) |
10085 | The set of ordered pairs of natural numbers <i,j> is effectively enumerable [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The set of ordered pairs of natural numbers (i,j) is effectively enumerable, as proven by listing them in an array (across: <0,0>, <0,1>, <0,2> ..., and down: <0,0>, <1,0>, <2,0>...), and then zig-zagging. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.5) |
10083 | A set is 'effectively enumerable' if a computer could eventually list every member [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: A set is 'effectively enumerable' if an (idealised) computer could be programmed to generate a list of its members such that any member will eventually be mentioned (even if the list is empty, or without end, or contains repetitions). | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 02.4) |
10600 | Being 'expressible' depends on language; being 'capture/represented' depends on axioms and proof system [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Whether a property is 'expressible' in a given theory depends on the richness of the theory's language. Whether the property can be 'captured' (or 'represented') by the theory depends on the richness of the axioms and proof system. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 04.7) |
10599 | For primes we write (x not= 1 ∧ ∀u∀v(u x v = x → (u = 1 ∨ v = 1))) [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: For prime numbers we write (x not= 1 ∧ ∀u∀v(u x v = x → (u = 1 ∨ v = 1))). That is, the only way to multiply two numbers and a get a prime is if one of them is 1. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 04.5) |
10610 | The reals contain the naturals, but the theory of reals doesn't contain the theory of naturals [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: It has been proved (by Tarski) that the real numbers R is a complete theory. But this means that while the real numbers contain the natural numbers, the pure theory of real numbers doesn't contain the theory of natural numbers. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 18.2) |
10619 | The truths of arithmetic are just true equations and their universally quantified versions [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The truths of arithmetic are just the true equations involving particular numbers, and universally quantified versions of such equations. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 27.7) | |
A reaction: Must each equation be universally quantified? Why can't we just universally quantify over the whole system? |
10618 | All numbers are related to zero by the ancestral of the successor relation [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: All numbers are related to zero by the ancestral of the successor relation. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 23.5) | |
A reaction: The successor relation only ties a number to the previous one, not to the whole series. Ancestrals are a higher level of abstraction. |
10608 | The number of Fs is the 'successor' of the Gs if there is a single F that isn't G [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The number of Fs is the 'successor' of the number of Gs if there is an object which is an F, and the remaining things that are F but not identical to the object are equinumerous with the Gs. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 14.1) |
10849 | Baby arithmetic covers addition and multiplication, but no general facts about numbers [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Baby Arithmetic 'knows' the addition of particular numbers and multiplication, but can't express general facts about numbers, because it lacks quantification. It has a constant '0', a function 'S', and functions '+' and 'x', and identity and negation. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 08.1) |
10850 | Baby Arithmetic is complete, but not very expressive [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Baby Arithmetic is negation complete, so it can prove every claim (or its negation) that it can express, but it is expressively extremely impoverished. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 08.3) |
10852 | Robinson Arithmetic (Q) is not negation complete [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Robinson Arithmetic (Q) is not negation complete | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 08.4) |
10851 | Robinson Arithmetic 'Q' has basic axioms, quantifiers and first-order logic [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: We can beef up Baby Arithmetic into Robinson Arithmetic (referred to as 'Q'), by restoring quantifiers and variables. It has seven generalised axioms, plus standard first-order logic. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 08.3) |
10068 | Natural numbers have zero, unique successors, unending, no circling back, and no strays [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The sequence of natural numbers starts from zero, and each number has just one immediate successor; the sequence continues without end, never circling back on itself, and there are no 'stray' numbers, lurking outside the sequence. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 01.1) | |
A reaction: These are the characteristics of the natural numbers which have to be pinned down by any axiom system, such as Peano's, or any more modern axiomatic structures. We are in the territory of Gödel's theorems. |
10603 | The logic of arithmetic must quantify over properties of numbers to handle induction [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: If the logic of arithmetic doesn't have second-order quantifiers to range over properties of numbers, how can it handle induction? | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 10.1) |
10604 | Incompleteness results in arithmetic from combining addition and successor with multiplication [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Putting multiplication together with addition and successor in the language of arithmetic produces incompleteness. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 10.7) | |
A reaction: His 'Baby Arithmetic' has all three and is complete, but lacks quantification (p.51) |
10848 | Multiplication only generates incompleteness if combined with addition and successor [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: Multiplication in itself isn't is intractable. In 1929 Skolem showed a complete theory for a first-order language with multiplication but lacking addition (or successor). Multiplication together with addition and successor produces incompleteness. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 10.7 n8) |
22310 | The formalist defence against Gödel is to reject his metalinguistic concept of truth [Potter] |
Full Idea: Gödel's theorem does not refute formalism outright, because the committed formalist need not recognise the metalinguistic notion of truth to which the theorem appeals. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 45 'Log') | |
A reaction: The theorem was prior to Tarski's account of truth. Potter says Gödel avoided explicit mention of truth because of this problem. In general Gödel showed that there are truths outside the formal system (which is all provable). |
22298 | Why is fictional arithmetic applicable to the real world? [Potter] |
Full Idea: Fictionalists struggle to explain why arithmetic is applicable to the real world in a way that other stories are not. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 21 'Math') | |
A reaction: We know why some novels are realistic and others just the opposite. If a novel aimed to 'model' the real world it would be even closer to it. Fictionalists must explain why some fictions are useful. |
22287 | If 'concrete' is the negative of 'abstract', that means desires and hallucinations are concrete [Potter] |
Full Idea: The word 'concrete' is often used as the negative of 'abstract', with the slightly odd consequence that desires and hallucinations are thereby classified as concrete. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 12 'Numb') | |
A reaction: There is also the even more baffling usage of 'abstract' for the most highly generalised mathematics, leaving lower levels as 'concrete'. I favour the use of 'generalised' wherever possible, rather than 'abstract'. |
10617 | The 'ancestral' of a relation is a new relation which creates a long chain of the original relation [Smith,P] |
Full Idea: The 'ancestral' of a relation is that relation which holds when there is an indefinitely long chain of things having the initial relation. | |
From: Peter Smith (Intro to Gödel's Theorems [2007], 23.5) | |
A reaction: The standard example is spotting the relation 'ancestor' from the receding relation 'parent'. This is a sort of abstraction derived from a relation which is not equivalent (parenthood being transitive but not reflexive). The idea originated with Frege. |
22284 | 'Greater than', which is the ancestral of 'successor', strictly orders the natural numbers [Potter] |
Full Idea: From the successor function we can deduce its ancestral, the 'greater than' relation, which is a strict total ordering of the natural numbers. (Frege did not mention this, but Dedekind worked it out, when expounding definition by recursion). | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 07 'Def') | |
A reaction: [compressed] |
22281 | A material conditional cannot capture counterfactual reasoning [Potter] |
Full Idea: What the material conditional most significantly fails to capture is counterfactual reasoning. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 04 'Sem') | |
A reaction: The point is that counterfactuals say 'if P were the case (which it isn't), then Q'. But that means P is false, and in the material conditional everything follows from a falsehood. A reinterpretation of the conditional might embrace counterfactuals. |
22327 | Knowledge from a drunken schoolteacher is from a reliable and unreliable process [Potter] |
Full Idea: Knowledge might result from a reliable and an unreliable process. ...Is something knowledge if you were told it by a drunken schoolteacher? | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 66 'Rel') | |
A reaction: Nice example. The listener must decide which process to rely on. But how do you decide that, if not by assessing the likely truth of what you are being told? It could be a bad teacher who is inspired by drink. |
22273 | Traditionally there are twelve categories of judgement, in groups of three [Potter] |
Full Idea: The traditional categorisation of judgements (until at least 1800) was as universal, particular or singular; as affirmative, negative or infinite; as categorical, hypothetical or disjunctive; or as problematic, assertoric or apodictic. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 02 'Trans') | |
A reaction: Arranging these things in neat groups of three seems to originate with the stoics. Making distinctions like this is very much the job of a philosopher, but arranging them in neat equinumerous groups is intellectual tyranny. |
22290 | The phrase 'the concept "horse"' can't refer to a concept, because it is saturated [Potter] |
Full Idea: Frege's mirroring principle (that the structure of thoughts mirrors that of language) has the uncomfortable consequence that since the phrase 'the concept "horse"' is saturated, it cannot refer to something unsaturated, which includes concepts. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 16 'Conc') |
22283 | Compositionality should rely on the parsing tree, which may contain more than sentence components [Potter] |
Full Idea: Compositionality is best seen as saying the semantic value of a string is explained by the strings lower down its parsing tree. It is unimportant whether a string is always parsed in terms of its own substrings. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 05 'Sem') | |
A reaction: That is, the analysis must explain the meaning, but the analysis can contain more than the actual ingredients of the sentence (which would be too strict). |
22282 | 'Direct compositonality' says the components wholly explain a sentence meaning [Potter] |
Full Idea: Some authors urge the strong notion of 'direct compositionality', which requires that the content of a sentence be explained in terms of the contents of the component parts of that very sentence. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 05 'Sem') | |
A reaction: The alternative is that meaning is fully explained by an analysis, but that may contain more than the actual components of the sentence. |
22296 | Compositionality is more welcome in logic than in linguistics (which is more contextual) [Potter] |
Full Idea: The principle of compositionality is more popular among philosophers of logic than of language, because the subtle context-sensitivity or ordinary language makes providing a compositional semantics for it a daunting challenge. | |
From: Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 21 'Lang') | |
A reaction: Logicians love breaking complex entities down into simple atomic parts. Linguistics tries to pin down something much more elusive. |
6000 | The goal is rationality in the selection of things according to nature [Diogenes of Babylon, by Blank] |
Full Idea: Diogenes of Babylon defined the goal to be rationality in the selection and rejection of the things according to nature. | |
From: report of Diogenes (Bab) (fragments/reports [c.180 BCE]) by D.L. Blank - Diogenes of Babylon | |
A reaction: This captures the central Stoic idea quite nicely. 'Live according to nature', but this always meant 'live according to reason', because that is (as Aristotle had taught) the essence of our nature. This only makes sense if reason and nature coincide. |
5999 | The good is what is perfect by nature [Diogenes of Babylon, by Blank] |
Full Idea: Diogenes of Babylon defined the good as what is perfect by nature. | |
From: report of Diogenes (Bab) (fragments/reports [c.180 BCE]) by D.L. Blank - Diogenes of Babylon | |
A reaction: This might come close to G.E. Moore's Ideal Utilitarianism, but its dependence on the rather uneasy of concept of 'perfection' makes it questionable. Personally I find it appealing. I wish we had Diogenes' explanation. |
6001 | Justice is a disposition to distribute according to desert [Diogenes of Babylon, by Blank] |
Full Idea: Diogenes of Babylon defined justice as the disposition which distributes to everyone what he deserves. | |
From: report of Diogenes (Bab) (fragments/reports [c.180 BCE]) by D.L. Blank - Diogenes of Babylon | |
A reaction: The questions that arise would be 'what does a new-born baby deserve?', and 'what do animals deserve?', and 'does the lowest and worst of criminals deserve anything at all?' |