Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Method and Results' and '72: Against Stoics on common Conceptions'

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4 ideas

13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 2. Knowledge as Convention
By nature people are close to one another, but culture drives them apart [Hippias]
     Full Idea: I regard you all as relatives - by nature, not by convention. By nature like is akin to like, but convention is a tyrant over humankind and often constrains people to act contrary to nature.
     From: Hippias (fragments/reports [c.430 BCE]), quoted by Plato - Protagoras 337c8
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 6. Epiphenomenalism
T.H.Huxley gave the earliest clear statement of epiphenomenalism [Huxley, by Rey]
     Full Idea: T.H.Huxley gave the earliest clear statement of epiphenomenalism.
     From: report of T.H. Huxley (Method and Results [1893]) by Georges Rey - Contemporary Philosophy of Mind 3.1.1
     A reaction: This is, of course, impossible, because there can't be a clear statement of epiphenomenalism.
Brain causes mind, but it doesn't seem that mind causes actions [Huxley]
     Full Idea: All states of consciousness are caused by molecular changes of brain substance. It seems to me there is no proof that any state of consciousness is the cause of change in the motion of the matter of the organism.
     From: T.H. Huxley (Method and Results [1893], p.244), quoted by Georges Rey - Contemporary Philosophy of Mind 3.1.1
     A reaction: This sounds odd. Most people would say there is nothing more obvious than mental events causing actions. It certainly seems undeniable that actions are cause by the contents of thoughts, so a molecular account of intentional states is needed.
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / e. Miracles
People report seeing through rocks, or over the horizon, or impossibly small works [Plutarch]
     Full Idea: It is said that Lynceus could see through rock and tree, and a lookout in Sicily saw Carthaginian ships a day and a half away, and Callicrates and Myrmecides are said to fashion carriages canopied with the wings of fly, and write on sesame seeds.
     From: Plutarch (72: Against Stoics on common Conceptions [c.85], 1083e)
     A reaction: A warning from Plutarch against believing everything you hear!