Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Aristotle and Descartes on Matter', 'Contributions to Philosophy' and 'Reply to Second Objections'

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3 ideas

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
The Cogito is not a syllogism but a self-evident intuition [Descartes]
     Full Idea: When someone says 'I am thinking, therefore I am, or I exist', he does not deduce existence from thought by means of a syllogism, but recognises it as something self-evident by a simple intuition of the mind.
     From: René Descartes (Reply to Second Objections [1641], 140)
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
Culture is now dominated by boredom, so universal it is unnoticed [Heidegger, by Aho]
     Full Idea: Heidegger came to say that the cultural mood had changed from 'anxiety' to 'boredom'. The danger is that our boredom has become so ubiquitous and all-encompassing that it is now hidden.
     From: report of Martin Heidegger (Contributions to Philosophy [1938]) by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 9 'Conc'
     A reaction: I'm not sure what the danger of boredom is if it is 'hidden'. It rather depends what else is hidden with it.
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / b. Prime matter
Prime matter is nothing when it is at rest [Leibniz]
     Full Idea: Primary matter is nothing if considered at rest.
     From: Gottfried Leibniz (Aristotle and Descartes on Matter [1671], p.90)
     A reaction: This goes with Leibniz's Idea 13393, that activity is the hallmark of existence. No one seems to have been able to make good sense of prime matter, and it plays little role in Aristotle's writings.