Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Letters to Edward Stillingfleet', 'Realism and Anti-Realism' and 'Upon Nothing: Swansea lecture'

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8 ideas

1. Philosophy / H. Continental Philosophy / 1. Continental Philosophy

8988	Two marxist ideas have dominated in France: base and superstructure, and ideology [Scruton]
	Full Idea: Two tenets of classical Marxism have played a decisive role in French culture during our century: the theory of base and superstructure, and the concept of ideology.
	From: Roger Scruton (Upon Nothing: Swansea lecture [1993], p.7)
	A reaction: It is striking how marxist attitudes permeate even the least political of French philosophical writings, to the point where you wonder if they are even aware of it any more. They largely have marxism and reaction, with liberalism passing them by.

1. Philosophy / H. Continental Philosophy / 6. Deconstruction

8987	On the surface of deconstructive writing, technicalities float and then drift away [Scruton]
	Full Idea: Deconstructive writing has a peculiar surface, in which technicalities float on the syntactic flood and vanish unexplained downstream.
	From: Roger Scruton (Upon Nothing: Swansea lecture [1993], p.2)
	A reaction: Not even the greatest fans of deconstruction can deny this, and Derrida more or less admits it. At first glance it certainly looks more like the ancient idea of rhetoric than it looks anything like dialectic.

8992	Deconstruction is the last spasm of romanticism, now become hopeless and destructive [Scruton]
	Full Idea: The subversive patterns of thought in deconstruction are a last spasm of romanticism: one that has given up hope of an otherworldly redemption, and set out instead to destroy the illusions in which other still believe, the source of their power.
	From: Roger Scruton (Upon Nothing: Swansea lecture [1993], p.29)
	A reaction: It seems to be strongly connected with the failure of marxism in Europe, but it also seems to inherit all the values of the Dada movement.

7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 2. Realism

15049	Metaphysical realists are committed to all unambiguous statements being true or not true [Dummett]
	Full Idea: The anti-realist view undercuts the ground for accepting bivalence. ...Acceptance of bivalence should not be taken as a sufficient condition for realism. ..They accept the weaker principle that unambiguous statements are determinately true or not true.
	From: Michael Dummett (Realism and Anti-Realism [1992], p.467)
	A reaction: [cited by Kit Fine, when discussing anti-realism] I take it be quite an important component of realism that there might be facts which will never be expressed, or are even beyond our capacity to grasp or express them

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 3. Individual Essences

15990	Every individual thing which exists has an essence, which is its internal constitution [Locke]
	Full Idea: I take essences to be in everything that internal constitution or frame for the modification of substance, which God in his wisdom gives to every particular creature, when he gives it a being; and such essences I grant there are in all things that exist.
	From: John Locke (Letters to Edward Stillingfleet [1695], Letter 1), quoted by Simon Blackburn - Quasi-Realism no Fictionalism
	A reaction: This is the clearest statement I have found of Locke's commitment to essences, for all his doubts about whether we can know such things. Alexander says (ch.13) Locke was reacting against scholastic essence, as pertaining to species.

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty

15994	If it is knowledge, it is certain; if it isn't certain, it isn't knowledge [Locke]
	Full Idea: What reaches to knowledge, I think may be called certainty; and what comes short of certainty, I think cannot be knowledge.
	From: John Locke (Letters to Edward Stillingfleet [1695], Letter 2), quoted by Simon Blackburn - Quasi-Realism no Fictionalism
	A reaction: I much prefer that fallibilist approach offered by the pragmatists. Knowledge is well-supported belief which seems (and is agreed) to be true, but there is a small shadow of doubt hanging over all of it.

24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract

8989	The benefits of social freedom outweigh the loneliness, doubt and alienation it brings [Scruton]
	Full Idea: While the goods of freedom, such as rights, property, education and prosperity, can be obtained only at a price - the price of loneliness, doubt and alienation - it is a price worth paying.
	From: Roger Scruton (Upon Nothing: Swansea lecture [1993])
	A reaction: A striking way for a liberal-conservative to confront the accusations of the marxists - by conceding a lot of their criticisms, but living with them. I still don't see why we shouldn't aspire to have both.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 3. Conservatism

8990	So-called 'liberation' is the enemy of freedom, destroying the very structures that are needed [Scruton]
	Full Idea: The promise of 'liberation' has always been the enemy of freedom - in 1968 as much as in 1789 and 1917. Its first desire, and its only policy, is to destroy the institutions and traditions (the 'structures') which make freedom durable.
	From: Roger Scruton (Upon Nothing: Swansea lecture [1993], p.9)
	A reaction: There is a dilemma, though, if your legal system is corrupt. Far too many political attitudes are formed because of high-profile spectacular cases, instead of looking at daily routines. The latter might make a corrupt legal system still worth saving.