Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Oldest System Prog. of German Idealism' and 'The Making of a Philosopher'

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4 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 1. On Reason

7083	Highest reason is aesthetic, and truth and good are subordinate to beauty [Hegel]
	Full Idea: I am now convinced that the highest act of reason, which embraces all ideas, is an aesthetic act, and that truth and goodness are brothers only in beauty.
	From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Oldest System Prog. of German Idealism [1796]), quoted by Simon Critchley - Continental Philosophy - V. Short Intro Append
	A reaction: This seems to be the distinctive value framework of the romantic movement and the nineteenth century, where art is destined to replace religion. However, Plato in the Symposium is an interesting ally. Aim for beauty, and the rest follows?

9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 6. Constitution of an Object

6019	If someone squashed a horse to make a dog, something new would now exist [Mnesarchus]
	Full Idea: If, for the sake of argument, someone were to mould a horse, squash it, then make a dog, it would be reasonable for us on seeing this to say that this previously did not exist but now does exist.
	From: Mnesarchus (fragments/reports [c.120 BCE]), quoted by John Stobaeus - Anthology 179.11
	A reaction: Locke would say it is new, because the substance is the same, but a new life now exists. A sword could cease to exist and become a new ploughshare, I would think. Apply this to the Ship of Theseus. Is form more important than substance?

15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 2. Unconscious Mind

4691	If all mental life were conscious, we would be unable to see things, or to process speech [McGinn]
	Full Idea: If there were nothing more to our mind than our conscious awareness, then we would be unable to see anything or to process speech.
	From: Colin McGinn (The Making of a Philosopher [2002], Ch. 6)
	A reaction: A vital point. Traditional dualism has left us a simplistic exaggeration of the role of consciousness, and the misapprehension that most of what we do is conscious - which it clearly isn't, once you think about it.

19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 3. Meaning as Speaker's Intention

4690	If meaning is speaker's intentions, it can be reduced to propositional attitudes, and philosophy of mind [McGinn]
	Full Idea: The importance of Grice's analysis of speaker meaning is that it offers the prospect of analysing the whole phenomenon of linguistic meaning in terms of propositional attitudes… thus turning semantics into a department of the philosophy of mind.
	From: Colin McGinn (The Making of a Philosopher [2002], Ch. 5)
	A reaction: Although meaning being truth conditions is the most cited theory, the reduction of semantics to an aspect of mind also seems almost orthodox now. But how do the symbols 'represent' the attitudes?