Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The Problem of Counterfactual Conditionals' and 'Fear and Trembling'

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4 ideas

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?

10. Modality / B. Possibility / 9. Counterfactuals

12191	Counterfactuals are true if logical or natural laws imply the consequence [Goodman, by McFetridge]
	Full Idea: Goodman's central idea was: 'If that match had been scratched, it would have lighted' is true if there are suitable truths from which, with the antecedent, the consequent can be inferred by means of a logical, or more typically natural, law.
	From: report of Nelson Goodman (The Problem of Counterfactual Conditionals [1947]) by Ian McFetridge - Logical Necessity: Some Issues §4
	A reaction: Goodman then discusses the problem of identifying the natural laws, and identifying the suitable truths. I'm inclined to think counterfactuals are vaguer than that; they are plausible if coherent reasons can be offered for the inference.

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / a. Divine morality

16006	Either Abraham rises higher than universal ethics, or he is a mere murderer [Kierkegaard]
	Full Idea: Either Abraham was a murderer, or we confront a paradox higher than all mediation. His story therefore contains the teleological suspension of the ethical, and he becomes higher than the universal. If not, he is not a tragic hero or the father of faith.
	From: Søren Kierkegaard (Fear and Trembling [1843], p.49)
	A reaction: A nice dilemma for Christian thinkers who want to reconcile reason and morality with religion. [SY]

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / d. God decrees morality

7577	Abraham was willing to suspend ethics, for a higher idea [Kierkegaard]
	Full Idea: The story of Abraham (and Isaac) contains a teleological suspension of the ethical. ...In his action he overstepped the ethical altogether, and had a higher idea outside it, in relation to which he suspended it.
	From: Søren Kierkegaard (Fear and Trembling [1843], Prob I)
	A reaction: My immediate response is to find this proposal very sinister. I can't remotely understand what Abraham's (or God's) 'higher' idea could be that could justify this crime. Maybe ethics is suspended if you are on the beach and a tidal wave arrives?