Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Birth of Tragedy', 'The Foundations of Mathematics' and 'Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World'

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4 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
7848 Philosophy begins in the horror and absurdity of existence [Nietzsche, by Ansell Pearson]
     Full Idea: For Nietzsche philosophy begins in horror - existence is something both horrible and absurd.
     From: report of Friedrich Nietzsche (The Birth of Tragedy [1871]) by Keith Ansell Pearson - How to Read Nietzsche Ch.1
     A reaction: A striking contrast to Aristotle (Idea 549). Personally I think my philosophy begins with confusion. Not that I endorse a Wittgenteinian view, that we are just trying to cure ourselves of self-inflicted wounds. Life is very complex and we are bit simple.
5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 2. Excluded Middle
18844 You would cripple mathematics if you denied Excluded Middle [Hilbert]
     Full Idea: Taking the principle of Excluded Middle away from the mathematician would be the same, say, as prohibiting the astronomer from using the telescope or the boxer from using his fists.
     From: David Hilbert (The Foundations of Mathematics [1927], p.476), quoted by Ian Rumfitt - The Boundary Stones of Thought 9.4
     A reaction: [p.476 in Van Heijenoort]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / i. Explanations by mechanism
17093 Causation produces productive mechanisms; to understand the world, understand these mechanisms [Salmon]
     Full Idea: Causal processes, causal interactions, and causal laws provide the mechanisms by which the world works; to understand why certain things happen, we need to see how they are produced by these mechanisms.
     From: Wesley Salmon (Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World [1984]), quoted by David-Hillel Ruben - Explaining Explanation Ch 7
     A reaction: I don't think I've ever found a better quotation on explanation. That strikes me as correct, and (basically) there is nothing more to be said. I'm not sure about the 'laws'. This is later Wesley Salmon.
17492 Salmon's interaction mechanisms needn't be regular, or involving any systems [Glennan on Salmon]
     Full Idea: While Salmon's mechanisms are processes involving interactions, the interactions are not necessarily regular, and they do not involve the operation of systems.
     From: comment on Wesley Salmon (Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World [1984]) by Stuart Glennan - Mechanisms 'hierarchical'
     A reaction: This is why modern mechanistic philosophy only began in 2000, despite Wesley Salmon's championing of the roughly mechanistic approach.