Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Problem of Empty Names', 'Probabilistic Causality' and 'On Mental Entities'

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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'.
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 4. Sense Data / d. Sense-data problems
21686 Sense-data are dubious abstractions, with none of the plausibility of tables [Quine]
     Full Idea: The notion of pure sense datum is a pretty tenuous abstraction, a good deal more conjectural than the notion of an external object, a table or a sheep.
     From: Willard Quine (On Mental Entities [1952], p.225)
     A reaction: This seems to sum up the view of sense-data held by the generation after Russell and Moore. Ayer still talks about them, but Russell had already given them up. The simple challenge is - what is the evidence for their existence? Cf innate ideas.
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism
21685 Empiricism says evidence rests on the senses, but that insight is derived from science [Quine]
     Full Idea: The crucial insight of empiricism is that any evidence for science has its end points in the senses. This insight remains valid, but it is an insight which comes after physics, physiology, and psychology, not before.
     From: Willard Quine (On Mental Entities [1952], p.225)
     A reaction: Interesting. I think Hume and co. were probably outlining essential presuppositions and contraints which must be accepted by science. Quine offers empiricism as more like a description of science (with success as its authority?).
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / e. Probabilistic causation
8409 Probabilistic causal concepts are widely used in everyday life and in science [Salmon]
     Full Idea: Probabilistic causal concepts are used in innumerable contexts of everyday life and science. ...In causes of cancer, road accidents, or food poisoning, for example.
     From: Wesley Salmon (Probabilistic Causality [1980], p.137)
     A reaction: [Second half compresses his examples] This strikes me as rather a weak point. No one ever thought that a particular road accident was actually caused by the high probability of it at a particular location. Causes are in the mechanisms.