Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'God and Human Attributes', 'Counting and the Natural Numbers' and 'Remembrance of Things Past'

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5 ideas

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / d. Natural numbers

17423	The essence of natural numbers must reflect all the functions they perform [Sicha]
	Full Idea: What is really essential to being a natural number is what is common to the natural numbers in all the functions they perform.
	From: Jeffrey H. Sicha (Counting and the Natural Numbers [1968], 2)
	A reaction: I could try using natural numbers as insults. 'You despicable seven!' 'How dare you!' I actually agree. The question about functions is always 'what is it about this thing that enables it to perform this function'.

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / c. Counting procedure

17425	To know how many, you need a numerical quantifier, as well as equinumerosity [Sicha]
	Full Idea: A knowledge of 'how many' cannot be inferred from the equinumerosity of two collections; a numerical quantifier statement is needed.
	From: Jeffrey H. Sicha (Counting and the Natural Numbers [1968], 3)

17424	Counting puts an initial segment of a serial ordering 1-1 with some other entities [Sicha]
	Full Idea: Counting is the activity of putting an initial segment of a serially ordered string in 1-1 correspondence with some other collection of entities.
	From: Jeffrey H. Sicha (Counting and the Natural Numbers [1968], 2)

18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 3. Modularity of Mind

7845	When we need to do something, we depute an inner servant to remind us of it [Proust]
	Full Idea: Whenever we have something definite to do at a given moment, we depute a certain person inside us who is accustomed to that sort of duty to keep an eye on the clock and warn us of the time. This inner servant reminded me that Albertine was coming soon.
	From: Marcel Proust (Remembrance of Things Past [1922], Cities.2.1)
	A reaction: I think Proust is wrong that we 'depute' this servant. I think it comes as a built-in feature, and the servant could never be abandoned or sacked, no matter how poor the service. Each of us is a team, which includes servants.

28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / c. Moral Argument

20713	God must be fit for worship, but worship abandons morally autonomy, but there is no God [Rachels, by Davies,B]
	Full Idea: Rachels argues 1) If any being is God, he must be a fitting object of worship, 2) No being could be a fitting object of worship, since worship requires the abandonment of one's role as an autonomous moral agent, so 3) There cannot be a being who is God.
	From: report of James Rachels (God and Human Attributes [1971], 7 p.334) by Brian Davies - Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion 9 'd morality'
	A reaction: Presumably Lionel Messi can be a fitting object of worship without being God. Since the problem is with being worshipful, rather than with being God, should I infer that Messi doesn't exist?