Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Problem of Empty Names', 'The Parts of Animals' and 'works'

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4 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / e. Empty names

18946	Unreflectively, we all assume there are nonexistents, and we can refer to them [Reimer]
	Full Idea: As speakers of the language, we unreflectively assume that there are nonexistents, and that reference to them is possible.
	From: Marga Reimer (The Problem of Empty Names [2001], p.499), quoted by Sarah Sawyer - Empty Names 4
	A reaction: Sarah Swoyer quotes this as a good solution to the problem of empty names, and I like it. It introduces a two-tier picture of our understanding of the world, as 'unreflective' and 'reflective', but that seems good. We accept numbers 'unreflectively'.

15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 8. Brain

23218	The brain has no responsibility for sensations, which occur in the heart [Aristotle]
	Full Idea: And of course, the brain is not responsible for any of the sensations at all. The correct view is that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart.
	From: Aristotle (The Parts of Animals [c.345 BCE]), quoted by Matthew Cobb - The Idea of the Brain 1
	A reaction: [Need a reference] Hippocrates's assertion a century earlier made no impression on the great man. I wish he had been a little more circumspect with his own view.

27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 2. Thermodynamics / b. Heat

20645	Heat is a state of vibration, not a substance [Joule]
	Full Idea: We consider heat not as a substance but as a state of vibration.
	From: James Joule (works [1870]), quoted by Peter Watson - Convergence 01 'Nature's'
	A reaction: The puzzle is that giving accurate accounts of vibrations, heat and movement require a quantitative substance, energy. But all we have here is movement, and the denial of a substance. Energy is 'nature's currency system'.

20972	Joule showed that energy converts to heat, and heat to energy [Joule, by Papineau]
	Full Idea: James Joule established the equivalence of heat and mechanical energy, in the sense of showing that a specific amount of heat will always be produced by the expenditure of a given amount of energy, and vice versa.
	From: report of James Joule (works [1870]) by David Papineau - Thinking about Consciousness App 4.2
	A reaction: This was a major step towards the law of conservation of energy.