Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Through the Looking Glass', 'Causality: Production and Propagation' and 'Presidential Address of Am. Math. Soc'

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5 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 2. History of Logic

10247	We have no adequate logic at the moment, so mathematicians must create one [Veblen]
	Full Idea: Formal logic has to be taken over by mathematicians. The fact is that there does not exist an adequate logic at the present time, and unless the mathematicians create one, no one else is likely to do so.
	From: Oswald Veblen (Presidential Address of Am. Math. Soc [1924], 141), quoted by Stewart Shapiro - Philosophy of Mathematics
	A reaction: This remark was made well after Frege, but before the advent of Gödel and Tarski. That implies that he was really thinking of meta-logic.

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / e. Being and nothing

21982	I only wish I had such eyes as to see Nobody! It's as much as I can do to see real people. [Carroll,L]
	Full Idea: "I see nobody on the road," said Alice. - "I only wish I had such eyes," the King remarked. ..."To be able to see Nobody! ...Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people."
	From: Lewis Carroll (C.Dodgson) (Through the Looking Glass [1886], p.189), quoted by A.W. Moore - The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics 07.7
	A reaction: [Moore quotes this, inevitably, in a chapter on Hegel] This may be a better candidate for the birth of philosophy of language than Frege's Groundwork.

26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 4. Naturalised causation

8412	A causal interaction is when two processes intersect, and correlated modifications persist afterwards [Salmon]
	Full Idea: When two processes intersect, and they undergo correlated modifications which persist after the intersection, I shall say that the intersection is a causal interaction. I take this as a fundamental causal concept.
	From: Wesley Salmon (Causality: Production and Propagation [1980], §4)
	A reaction: There may be a problem individuating processes, just as there is for events. I like this approach to causation, which is ontologically sparse, and fits in with the scientific worldview. Change of properties sounds precise, but isn't. Stick to processes.

26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 5. Direction of causation

8413	Cause must come first in propagations of causal interactions, but interactions are simultaneous [Salmon]
	Full Idea: In a typical cause-effect situation (a 'propagation') cause must precede effect, for propagation over a finite time interval is an essential feature. In an 'interaction', an intersection of processes resulting in change, we have simultaneity.
	From: Wesley Salmon (Causality: Production and Propagation [1980], §8)
	A reaction: This takes the direction of time as axiomatic, and quite right too. Salmon isn't addressing the real difficulty, though, which is that the resultant laws are usually held to be time-reversible, which is a bit of a puzzle.

26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / b. Causal relata

8411	Instead of localised events, I take enduring and extended processes as basic to causation [Salmon]
	Full Idea: I propose to approach causality by taking processes rather than events as basic entities. Events are relatively localised in space and time, while processes have much greater temporal duration, and, in many cases, much greater spatial extent.
	From: Wesley Salmon (Causality: Production and Propagation [1980], §2)
	A reaction: This strikes me as an incredibly promising proposal, not just in our understanding of causation, but for our general metaphysics and understanding of nature. See Idea 4931, for example. Vague events and processes blend into one another.