Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Science and Method', 'Protocol Sentences' and 'Amphitheatrum'

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4 ideas

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry

10245	One geometry cannot be more true than another [Poincaré]
	Full Idea: One geometry cannot be more true than another; it can only be more convenient.
	From: Henri Poincaré (Science and Method [1908], p.65), quoted by Stewart Shapiro - Philosophy of Mathematics
	A reaction: This is the culminating view after new geometries were developed by tinkering with Euclid's parallels postulate.

13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / f. Foundationalism critique

10486	If we are rebuilding our ship at sea, we should jettison some cargo [Boolos on Neurath]
	Full Idea: If we are sailors rebuilding our ship plank by plank on the open sea, then I know of some cargo we might want to jettison.
	From: comment on Otto Neurath (Protocol Sentences [1932]) by George Boolos - Must We Believe in Set Theory? p.128
	A reaction: This may just be an assertion of Ockham's Razor, but the interest is that the Neurath image demands internal standards of economy etc, whereas reality itself seems to be a right mess.

8485	We must always rebuild our ship on the open sea; we can't reconstruct it properly in dry-dock [Neurath]
	Full Idea: We are like sailors who must rebuild their ship out on the open sea, never able to dismantle it in a dry-dock and reconstruct it there out of the best materials.
	From: Otto Neurath (Protocol Sentences [1932]), quoted by Alex Orenstein - W.V. Quine Ch.8
	A reaction: This is the classic statement of the anti-foundationalist picture of knowledge. It is often quoted by Quine. A tricky issue. I have a lot of sympathy with Bonjour's rationalist foundationalism.

26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / b. Prime matter

16591	Prime matter is nothing but its parts [Vanini]
	Full Idea: The whole of prime matter, considered as prime matter, is nothing other than its parts.
	From: Julio Cesare Vanini (Amphitheatrum [1615], Ex 5:p.28), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 03.2
	A reaction: This is a late scholastic writer rejecting the traditional (and obscure) prime matter with the new corpuscularian approach. It signals the end of the Greek concept of matter.