22227
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For Sartre there is only being for-itself, or being in-itself (which is beyond experience) [Sartre, by Daigle]
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Full Idea:
The two most fundamental modes of being in Sartre's ontology are being in-itself, and being for-itself. ...The in-itself lies beyond our experience of it.
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From:
report of Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943]) by Christine Daigle - Jean-Paul Sartre 2.2
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A reaction:
This appears to be Kant's ding-an-sich, paired with Heidegger's Dasein. If those are the only options, then reality is either subjective or unknown, which seems to make Sartre an idealist, but he asserted that phenomena vindicate the in-itself.
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6151
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Sartre says consciousness is just directedness towards external objects [Sartre, by Rowlands]
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Full Idea:
Sartre defends a view of consciousness as nothing but a directedness towards objects, insisting that these objects are transcendent with respect to that consciousness; hence Sartre is one of the first genuine externalists.
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From:
report of Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943]) by Mark Rowlands - Externalism Ch.1
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A reaction:
An ancestor here is, I think, Schopenhauer (Idea 4166). The idea is attractive, as we are brought up with idea that we have a thing called 'consciousness', but if you removed its contents there would literally be nothing left.
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5952
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Rather than being the whole soul, maybe I am its chief part? [Plutarch]
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Full Idea:
Is each of us not the soul, but the chief part of the soul, by which we think and reason and act, all the other parts of soul as well as of body being mere instruments of its power?
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From:
Plutarch (74: Reply to Colotes [c.85], §1119)
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A reaction:
Socrates is associated with the idea that I am my whole soul (Idea 1650). Plutarch represents an interesting development, which may lead both to the Christian 'soul' and to the Cartesian 'ego'. I think Plutarch is right, but what is the 'soul'?
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5951
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If atoms have no qualities, they cannot possibly produce a mind [Plutarch]
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Full Idea:
Perception, mind, intelligence and thought cannot so much as be conceived, even with the best will, as arising among void and atoms, things which taken separately have no quality.
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From:
Plutarch (74: Reply to Colotes [c.85], §1112)
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A reaction:
A nice articulation of the intuition of all anti-physicalists. Plutarch would have to rethink his position carefully if he learned of the sheer number of connections in the brain, and of the theory of natural selection. His challenge remains, though.
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6164
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Sartre rejects mental content, and the idea that the mind has hidden inner features [Sartre, by Rowlands]
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Full Idea:
Sartre's attack on the idea that consciousness has contents is an attack on the idea that the mental possesses features that are hidden, inner and constituted or revealed by the individual's inwardly directed awareness.
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From:
report of Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943]) by Mark Rowlands - Externalism Ch.5
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A reaction:
This is part of the move towards 'externalism' about the mind. The notion of 'content' implies a container. It seems slightly ridiculous, though, to try to say that the mind just 'is the world'. How is reasoning possible, and the relation of ideas?
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5948
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The good life involves social participation, loyalty, temperance and honesty [Plutarch]
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Full Idea:
To live the good life is to live a life of participation in society, of loyalty to friends, of temperance and honest dealing.
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From:
Plutarch (74: Reply to Colotes [c.85], §1108)
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A reaction:
'Participation in society' is the interesting one. This might translate as 'doing your duty', or as 'leading a well-rounded life'. Solitude is wrong if you are indebted to others, and it is unhealthy if you are not. Is solitude really immoral, though?
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22231
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We flee from the anguish of freedom by seeing ourselves objectively, as determined [Sartre]
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Full Idea:
We are always ready to take refuge in a belief in determinism if this freedom weighs upon us or if we need an excuse. Thus we flee from anguish by attempting to apprehend ourselves from without as an Other or a thing.
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From:
Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943], p.82), quoted by Christine Daigle - Jean-Paul Sartre 2.4
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A reaction:
I would have thought we blame social pressures, or biological pressures, rather than metaphysical determinism, but it amounts to the same thing. If we are not free then probably nothing else is.
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12709
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Motion is not absolute, but consists in relation [Leibniz]
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Full Idea:
In reality motion is not something absolute, but consists in relation.
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From:
Gottfried Leibniz (On Motion [1677], A6.4.1968), quoted by Daniel Garber - Leibniz:Body,Substance,Monad 3
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A reaction:
It is often thought that motion being relative was invented by Einstein, but Leibniz wholeheartedly embraced 'Galilean relativity', and refused to even consider any absolute concept of motion. Acceleration is a bit trickier than velocity.
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5955
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No one will ever find a city that lacks religious practices [Plutarch]
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Full Idea:
A city without holy places and gods, without any observance of prayers, oaths, oracles, sacrifices for blessings received or rites to avert evils, no traveller has ever seen or will ever see.
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From:
Plutarch (74: Reply to Colotes [c.85], §1125)
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A reaction:
The nearest you might get would be Soviet Moscow, but in 1973 I saw a man there jeering at a woman who was kneeling in the street outside a closed church. Plutarch would be stunned at the decline in religious practices in modern Europe.
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