Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Courtier and the Heretic', 'Gdel's Proof' and 'Facts and Propositions'

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4 ideas

3. Truth / H. Deflationary Truth / 1. Redundant Truth
3750 "It is true that x" means no more than x [Ramsey]
     Full Idea: It is evident that "It is true that Caesar was murdered" means no more than that Caesar was murdered.
     From: Frank P. Ramsey (Facts and Propositions [1927])
     A reaction: At the very least, saying it is true adds emphasis. One sentence is about Caesar, the other about a proposal concerning Caesar, so they can't quite be the same. Note Frege's priority in making this suggestion.
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / b. Human rationality
9591 The human intellect has not been, and cannot be, fully formalized [Nagel/Newman]
     Full Idea: The resources of the human intellect have not been, and cannot be, fully formalized.
     From: E Nagel / JR Newman (Gödel's Proof [1958], VIII)
     A reaction: This conclusion derives from Gödel's Theorem. Some people (e.g. Penrose) get over-excited by this discovery, and conclude that the human mind is supernatural. Imagination is the key - it is a feature of rationality that escapes mechanization.
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 7. Meaning Holism / c. Meaning by Role
18818 Sentence meaning is given by the actions to which it would lead [Ramsey]
     Full Idea: The meaning of a sentence is to be defined by reference to the actions to which asserting it would lead.
     From: Frank P. Ramsey (Facts and Propositions [1927], p.51), quoted by Ian Rumfitt - The Boundary Stones of Thought
     A reaction: I find this idea quite bizarre. Most sentences have no connection to any action or behavior at all. Do we have to ingeniously contrive some possible action? That is the worst sort of behaviourism. See context - Ramsey wasn't stupid!
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 10. Theocracy
7825 The politics of Leibniz was the reunification of Christianity [Stewart,M]
     Full Idea: The politics of Leibniz may be summed up in one word: theocracy. The specific agenda motivating much of his work was to reunite the Protestant and Catholic churches
     From: Matthew Stewart (The Courtier and the Heretic [2007], Ch. 5)
     A reaction: This would be a typical project for a rationalist philosopher, who thinks that good reasoning will gradually converge on the one truth.