Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Commentary on 'De Anima'', 'City of God' and 'On the Freedom of the Will'

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4 ideas

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito

3912	I must exist in order to be mistaken, so that even if I am mistaken, I can't be wrong about my own existence [Augustine]
	Full Idea: Since therefore I must exist in order to be mistaken, then even if I am mistaken, there can be no doubt that I am not mistaken in my knowledge that I exist…. I know that I exist, and I also know that I know.
	From: Augustine (City of God [c.427], Ch.XI.26)
	A reaction: Fine, but the main problem is his over-confidence about a stable personal identity that does the thinking.

17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 2. Interactionism

6683	The contact of spirit and body is utterly amazing, and incomprehensible [Augustine]
	Full Idea: The manner of contact of spirit with body, which produces a living being, is utterly amazing and beyond our powers of comprehension
	From: Augustine (City of God [c.427], XXI.10)
	A reaction: This leads to a rather clear objection against a theory which needs a miracle to explain a common natural phenomenon. At least Augustine was beginning to recognise that interaction is a bit of a problem.

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / g. Moral responsibility

21378	We clearly feel responsible for our deeds, because we are quite certain that we did them [Schopenhauer]
	Full Idea: Another fact of consciousness ...is the wholly clear and certain feeling of responsibility for what we do, of the accountability of our actions, which rests on the unshakable certainty that we ourselves are the doers of our deeds.
	From: Arthur Schopenhauer (On the Freedom of the Will [1841], p.93-4), quoted by Christopher Janaway - Schopenhauer 7 'Freedom'
	A reaction: The point is that we have this feeling even if we do not believe in free will. I am struck by the fact that responsibility is very obvious in our own case, even if it is not when we objectively consider other people. Even villains can feel guilty.

22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / e. Death

16764	The soul conserves the body, as we see by its dissolution when the soul leaves [Toletus]
	Full Idea: Every accident of a living thing, as well as all its organs and temperaments and its dispositions are conserved by the soul. We see this from experience, since when that soul recedes, all these dissolve and become corrupted.
	From: Franciscus Toletus (Commentary on 'De Anima' [1572], II.1.1), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 24.5
	A reaction: A nice example of observing a phenemonon, but not being able to observe the dependence relation the right way round. Compare Descartes in Idea 16763.