Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Problem of Empty Names', 'The Nature and Communication of Substance' and 'Varieties of Meaning'

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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'.

17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 5. Parallelism

2596	Maybe mind and body are parallel, like two good clocks [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: Two clocks in perfect agreement must be by natural influence, or the control of a craftsman, or their perfect construction at the beginning. Only the third way (of "preestablished harmony" by God) is possible.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (The Nature and Communication of Substance [1690], p.121)
	A reaction: Presumably 'natural influence' would cover the possibility that (unnoticed by you, apparently) one clock is attached to the other clock at the relevant points. If they are unconnected, presumably they are quite unaware of one another's existence.

18. Thought / C. Content / 11. Teleological Semantics

23801	Biosemantics says content is useful mapping from a producer to a consumer system [Millikan, by Schulte]
	Full Idea: Millikan's 'biosemantic' view is that representations stand midway between producer and consumer systems. The represented states of affairs (the content) maps onto the second system, and thus enable its proper function.
	From: report of Ruth Garrett Millikan (Varieties of Meaning [2002]) by Peter Schulte - Mental Content 4.4
	A reaction: These meets my standard objection to all functional theories (e.g. of mind), that observing relations and functions tells you nothing about what it actually is. Millikan seems to explain the role of content, but says nothing about its actual nature.

28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof

2595	If the universe is a perfect agreement of uncommunicating substances, there must be a common source [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: The perfect agreement of so many substances which have no communication whatever with each other can only come from a common source.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (The Nature and Communication of Substance [1690], p.120)