Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Problem of Empty Names', 'Presentation of Self in Everyday Life' and 'Individuation'

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6 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'.

8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 3. Predicate Nominalism

8967	Not all predicates can be properties - 'is non-self-exemplifying', for example [Lowe]
	Full Idea: We cannot assume that every meaningful predicate necessarily expresses a property that some entity could possess. The predicate 'is non-self-exemplifying' is meaningful, yet it would be contradictory for there to be any such property.
	From: E.J. Lowe (Individuation [2003])
	A reaction: This clinches what I would take to be a foregone conclusion - that you can't know what the world contains just by examining the predicates of the English language. However, I suppose predicates are needed to know properties.

9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / a. Individuation

8965	Neither mere matter nor pure form can individuate a sphere, so it must be a combination [Lowe]
	Full Idea: A sphere's matter could not be what makes it one sphere, since matter lacks intrinsic unity, ..and the form cannot make it that very sphere, since an identical sphere may exemplify that universal. So it is a combination of form and matter.
	From: E.J. Lowe (Individuation [2003], 5)
	A reaction: But how do two aspects of the sphere, neither of which has the power to individuate, achieve individuation when they are combined? Like parents, I suppose. Two totally identical spheres can only be individuated by location.

14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / c. Direction of explanation

8968	If the flagpole causally explains the shadow, the shadow cannot explain the flagpole [Lowe]
	Full Idea: Two distinct entities cannot explain each other, in the same sense of 'explain'. If the height of the flagpole causally explains the length of the shadow, the shadow cannot explain the flagpole, though it may predict the latter.
	From: E.J. Lowe (Individuation [2003], 12)
	A reaction: This seems related to the question of the direction of time/causation. Some explanations can be benignly circular, as when a married couple have a passion for chinese food. [S.Bromberger 1966 invented the flagpole case].

15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 3. Abstraction by mind

8966	Properties are facets of objects, only discussable separately by an act of abstraction [Lowe]
	Full Idea: In no sense is a property a 'constituent' of an object: it is merely a 'facet' or 'aspect' of an object - something which we can talk about or think of separately from that object only by an act of abstraction.
	From: E.J. Lowe (Individuation [2003], 8)
	A reaction: This appears to be in tune with traditional abstractionism, even though Lowe is committed to the reality of universals. To what do I refer when I say 'I like your car, apart from its colour'?

16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 2. Self as Social Construct

8044	Goffman sees the self as no more than a peg on which to hang roles we play [Goffman, by MacIntyre]
	Full Idea: Erving Goffman has liquidated the self into its role-playing, arguing that the self is no more than 'a peg' on which the clothes of the role are hung.
	From: report of Erving Goffman (Presentation of Self in Everyday Life [1959]) by Alasdair MacIntyre - After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory Ch.3
	A reaction: A rather unsympathetic expression of his view, but it seems to be a widely held view among students of sociology. But then sociologists are almost committed a priori to a social and relativist view of truth, persons, knowledge, religion etc.