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?
|
6850
|
Wittgenstein pared his life down in his search for decency [Monk]
|
|
Full Idea:
One of the most conspicuous things about Wittgenstein is that, on the ethics side, he pared his life down to the minimum, so as to make as central as possible his search for decency, the drive to be a decent person.
|
|
From:
Ray Monk (Interview with Baggini and Stangroom [2001], p.14)
|
|
A reaction:
It rather looks as if decency was quite an effort for him, as he had a rather waspish temperament, and people found it hard to get close to him. On the whole, though, he sounds like good company, as do nearly all the great philosophers.
|
12719
|
Clearly, force is that from which action follows, when unimpeded [Leibniz]
|
|
Full Idea:
The notion of force is as clear as that of action and passion, because it is that from which action follows when nothing prevents it.
|
|
From:
Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Paul Pellison-Fontinier [1691], A1.6.226), quoted by Daniel Garber - Leibniz:Body,Substance,Monad 4
|
|
A reaction:
For Leibniz, force seems to be a metaphysical notion, rather than a feature of the physical world. I take it to be the bottom level of explanation, and it equates with Aristotelian form and essence.
|