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All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Tropes' and 'Review of 'The Price is Wrong' by B.Christophers'

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10 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!).

8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 13. Tropes / a. Nature of tropes

10467	Individuals consist of 'compresent' tropes [Bacon,John]
	Full Idea: 'Qualitons' or 'relatons' (quality and relation tropes) are held to belong to the same individual if they are all 'compresent' with one another.
	From: John Bacon (Tropes [2008], §4)
	A reaction: There is a perennial problem with bundles - how to distinguish accidental compresence (like people in a lift) from united compresence (like people who make a family).

10464	A trope is a bit of a property or relation (not an exemplification or a quality) [Bacon,John]
	Full Idea: A trope is an instance or bit (not an exemplification) of a property or a relation. Bill Clinton's eloquence is not his participating in the universal eloquence, or the peculiar quality of his eloquence, but his bit, and his alone, of eloquence.
	From: John Bacon (Tropes [2008], Intro)
	A reaction: If we have identified something as a 'bit' of something, we can ask whether that bit is atomic, or divisible into something else, and we can ask what are the qualities and properties and powers of this bit, we seems to defeat the object.

10465	Trope theory is ontologically parsimonious, with possibly only one-category [Bacon,John]
	Full Idea: A major attraction of tropism has been its promise of parsimony; some adherents (such as Campbell) go so far as to proclaim a one-category ontology.
	From: John Bacon (Tropes [2008], §2)
	A reaction: This seems to go against the folk idiom which suggests that it is things which have properties, rather than properties ruling to roost. Maybe if one identified tropes with processes, the theory could be brought more into line with modern physics?

10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 2. Nature of Possible Worlds / a. Nature of possible worlds

10466	Maybe possible worlds are just sets of possible tropes [Bacon,John]
	Full Idea: Meinongian tropism has the advantage that possible worlds might be thought of as sets of 'qualitons' and 'relatons' (quality and relational tropes).
	From: John Bacon (Tropes [2008], §3)
	A reaction: You are still left with 'possible' to explain, and I'm not sure that anything is explain here. If the actual world is sets of tropes, then possible worlds would also have to be, I suppose.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 11. Capitalism

24071	Markets are transparent, with known prices and activity, and minimal profits [Davies,W]
	Full Idea: Markets are characterised by transparency. Prices are public, and all relevant activity is visible to everyone. And because of competition, profits are minimal, little more than a 'wage' for the seller.
	From: William Davies (Review of 'The Price is Wrong' by B.Christophers [2024], 24-04-04)
	A reaction: This account, from Braudel, is to distinguish markets from capitalism.

24073	Capitalists use their exceptional power to impose their own rules, and make the state their ally [Davies,W]
	Full Idea: Capitalists exploit their unrivalled control over time and space in order to impose their rules on everyone else. …It triumphed late, only becoming dominant in the 19th century, when it had conscripted the state as its ally.
	From: William Davies (Review of 'The Price is Wrong' by B.Christophers [2024], 24-04-04)
	A reaction: This so very much makes sense of the modern world. Nowadays capitalists are so wealthy that the state has largely become their pawn, rather than their ally. Populist leaders are their puppets (and are well rewarded).

24070	Economies have material, economic and capitalist layers [Davies,W]
	Full Idea: Braudel's economic history has three layers. At the bottom is material life of consumption, production, reproduction. Next is economic life of markets, of equals in exchange and competition. Top is capitalism, of opacity, monopoly, power, high profits.
	From: William Davies (Review of 'The Price is Wrong' by B.Christophers [2024], 24-04-04)
	A reaction: The point Davies emphasises here is the sharp distinction between the market economy and capitalism.

24074	Capitalism must mainly rely either on the labour market, or on the financial markets [Davies,W]
	Full Idea: According to Marxists, the one market capitalism cannot do without is the labour market, which creates saleable things. Others, influenced by Keynes, emphasise financial markets, where pieces of paper change hands on expectation of their value.
	From: William Davies (Review of 'The Price is Wrong' by B.Christophers [2024], 24-04-04)
	A reaction: Modern Britain fits the Keynesian account much better, given its low production, and very active (until recently) London financial market.

24072	Capitalism is the anti-market, with opacity, monopolies, powers, exceptional profits and wealth [Davies,W]
	Full Idea: Braudel sees capitalism as the 'anti-market': a world of opacity, monopoly, concentration of power and wealth, and the exceptional profits that can be achieved only by escaping the norms of 'economic life'.
	From: William Davies (Review of 'The Price is Wrong' by B.Christophers [2024], 24-04-04)
	A reaction: Given all the talk about the wonders of the 'free market' from right-wingers, this passage came as a revelation to me. Capitalists all dream of a monopoly, which is precisely the destruction of a market.