7669
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We cannot attain all the ideals of every culture, so there cannot be a perfect life [Herder, by Berlin]
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Full Idea:
For Herder, we cannot attain to the highest ideals of all the centuries and all the places at once, and since we cannot do that, the whole notion of the perfect life collapses.
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From:
report of Johann Gottfried Herder (works [1784]) by Isaiah Berlin - The Roots of Romanticism Ch.3
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A reaction:
Herder seems to be the father of modern cultural relativism. The idea is hard to challenge, but the ideals of some cultures should be ignored, if they diminish rather than enhance the good life for all.
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7668
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Herder invented the idea of being rooted in (or cut off from) a home or a group [Herder, by Berlin]
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Full Idea:
The whole notion of being at home, or being cut off from one's natural roots, the whole idea of roots, the whole idea of belonging to a group, a sect, a movement, was largely invented by Herder.
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From:
report of Johann Gottfried Herder (works [1784], Ch.3) by Isaiah Berlin - The Roots of Romanticism
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A reaction:
Hm. Broad generalisations are an awful temptation in the history of ideas. As a corrective to this, trying reading the two Anglo-Saxon poems 'The Wanderer' and 'The Seafarer'. Very Germanic, I suppose. Interesting, though. Leads to Hegel's politics.
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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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21731
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Fields can be 'scalar', or 'vector', or 'tensor', or 'spinor' [Baggott]
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Full Idea:
Fields can be 'scalar', with no particular direction (pointing, but not pushing or pulling); or 'vector', with a direction (like magnetism, or Newtonian gravity); or 'tensor' (needing further parameters); or 'spinor' (depending on spin orientation).
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From:
Jim Baggott (Farewell to Reality: fairytale physics [2013], 2 'Quantum')
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A reaction:
[compressed] So the question is, why do they differ? What is it in the nature of each field the result in a distinctive directional feature?
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