9763
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For a good theory of the world, we must focus on our flabby foundational vocabulary [Quine]
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Full Idea:
Our traditional introspective notions - of meaning, idea, concept, essence, all undisciplined and undefined - afford a hopelessly flabby and unmanageable foundation for a theory of the world. Control is gained by focusing on words.
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From:
Willard Quine (Has Philosophy Lost Contact with People? [1979], p.192)
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A reaction:
A very nice statement of the aim of modern language-centred philosophy, though the task offered appears to be that of an under-labourer, when the real target, even according to Quine, is supposed to be a 'theory of the world'.
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7076
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Mill wondered if he would be happy if all his aims were realised, and answered no [Mill, by Critchley]
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Full Idea:
Mill, in his crisis of 1827, asked himself whether he would be happy if all his objects in life were realised, and had to answer that he would not.
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From:
report of John Stuart Mill (Autobiography [1870]) by Simon Critchley - Continental Philosophy - V. Short Intro Ch.3
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A reaction:
The reply is either that happiness is in the striving, or that his aims in life were wrong, or that happiness is impossible. It seems to contradict Kant's definition (Idea 1452).
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