Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?' and 'Recent Aesthetics in England and America'

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4 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined
23367 Even pointing a finger should only be done for a reason [Epictetus]
     Full Idea: Philosophy says it is not right even to stretch out a finger without some reason.
     From: Epictetus (fragments/reports [c.57], 15)
     A reaction: The key point here is that philosophy concerns action, an idea on which Epictetus is very keen. He rather despise theory. This idea perfectly sums up the concept of the wholly rational life (which no rational person would actually want to live!).
13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 2. Justification Challenges / b. Gettier problem
8886 Being a true justified belief is not a sufficient condition for knowledge [Gettier]
     Full Idea: The claim that someone knows a proposition if it is true, it is believed, and the person is justified in their belief is false, in that the conditions do not state a sufficient condition for the claim.
     From: Edmund L. Gettier (Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? [1963], p.145)
     A reaction: This is the beginning of the famous Gettier Problem, which has motivated most epistemology for the last forty years. Gettier implies that justification is necessary, even if it is not sufficient. He gives two counterexamples.
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 1. Aesthetics
12156 Aesthetics has risen and fallen with Romanticism [Scruton]
     Full Idea: The rise and fall (as we presently perceive them) of aesthetics have been contemporaneous with the rise and fall of Romanticism.
     From: Roger Scruton (Recent Aesthetics in England and America [1980], p.3)
     A reaction: Maybe it started a little before Romanticism, as part of the Englightenment aim of being rational about everything, and maybe it survives Romanticism because we want to be scientific about everything.
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 2. Aesthetic Attitude
12158 Aesthetic experience informs the world with the values of the observer [Scruton]
     Full Idea: It is possible to conclude that aesthetic experience has a peculiar practical significance: it represents the world as informed by the values of the observer.
     From: Roger Scruton (Recent Aesthetics in England and America [1980], p.13)
     A reaction: An excellent remark. If you look at, or listen to, anything, you can make a conscious effort to drain away your personal values (objectivity; science?), or you can consciously flood them with values. But moral and aesthetic vision must differ...