Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Presentism and Properties', 'Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity' and 'Letters to Pierre Bayle'

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6 ideas

16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will

19413	If we know what is good or rational, our knowledge is extended, and our free will restricted [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: The more perfect one is, the more one is determined to the good, and so is more free at the same time. ...Our power and knowledge are more extended, and our will much the more limited within the bounds of perfect reason.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Pierre Bayle [1702], 1702)
	A reaction: I like this idea, which seems to me to derive from Aquinas. When I choose to eat and drink each day, or agree that 7+5 is 12, I don't complain about my lack of freedom in the choices. Goodness and reason are constraints I welcome.

25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights

19896	It is not a law if not endorsed by the public [Hooker,R]
	Full Idea: Laws they are not which public approbation hath not made so.
	From: Richard Hooker (Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity [1593], I s.10), quoted by John Locke - Second Treatise of Government 134 n1
	A reaction: Margaret Thatcher's Poll Tax, rejected by public rebellion, illustrates the point.

25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / b. Rule of law

19891	Rule of law is superior to autonomy, because citizens can see what is expected [Hooker,R]
	Full Idea: Men saw that to live by one man's will became the cause of all men's misery. This contrained them to come unto laws wherein all men might see their duty beforehand, and know the penalties of transgressing them.
	From: Richard Hooker (Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity [1593], I s.10), quoted by John Locke - Second Treatise of Government 111 n1
	A reaction: One British school has a single rule, that pupils 'shall always treat other people with respect'. Presumably the rulers, as well as the pupils, must decide when this is transgressed. The rule of law may be preferable.

25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / c. Natural law

19897	Human laws must accord with the general laws of Nature [Hooker,R]
	Full Idea: Laws human must be made according to the general laws of Nature.
	From: Richard Hooker (Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity [1593], III s.9), quoted by John Locke - Second Treatise of Government
	A reaction: The point simply seems to be that they won't get assent from the public if they are not in accord with natural justice. Positivists say you can make any damned law you like.

26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / c. Essence and laws

17005	Natural things observe certain laws, and things cannot do otherwise if they retain their forms [Hooker,R]
	Full Idea: Things natural …do so necessarily observe their certain laws, that as long as they keep those forms which give them their being they cannot possibly be apt or inclinable to do otherwise than they do.
	From: Richard Hooker (Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity [1593], 1.3.4), quoted by Marc Lange - Laws and Lawmakers 1.2
	A reaction: Cited by some as the beginnings of the idea of 'laws of nature', but it is striking that Hooker says the laws are controlled by 'forms' (which are Aristotelian essences). This is an essentialist view of laws, not a regularity or divine power one.

27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / h. Presentism

14409	I am a presentist, and all language and common sense supports my view [Bigelow]
	Full Idea: I am a presentist: nothing exists which is not present. Everyone believed this until the nineteenth century; it is writing into the grammar of natural languages; it is still assumed in everyday life, even by philosophers who deny it.
	From: John Bigelow (Presentism and Properties [1996], p.36), quoted by Trenton Merricks - Truth and Ontology
	A reaction: The most likely deniers of presentism seem to be physicists and cosmologists who have overdosed on Einstein. On the whole I vote for presentism, but what justifies truths about the past and future. Traces existing in the present?