Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Metaphysics' and 'A Dictionary of Philosophy'

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5 ideas

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 8. Stuff / a. Pure stuff

16771	A composite is a true unity if all of its parts fall under one essence [Scheibler]
	Full Idea: A composite entity is a unum per se if the partial entities that are in it are contained under one common essence. …In water, all those parts are contained under one essence of water.
	From: Chistoph Scheibler (Metaphysics [1650], I.4.1 n9), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671
	A reaction: Water mixed with wine is said to be an 'ens per accidens'. This is an unusual but possible view, that all the water there is is a single thing, united by its compositional essence. When we talk about 'water', we include possible water, and past water.

12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 4. Sense Data / a. Sense-data theory

6455	Maybe 'sense-data' just help us to talk about unusual perceptual situations [Lacey]
	Full Idea: One possibility is that talk of sense-data is a mere linguistic convenience, providing a noun for talking about appearances, as when seeing a red object in sodium light (when it looks grey).
	From: A.R. Lacey (A Dictionary of Philosophy [1976], p.196)
	A reaction: The term seems to have been coined to deal with situations where there is a gap between appearance and presumed reality, as in illusions. Maybe illusions prove the existence of sense-data, rather than it being a 'convenient' term.

12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 4. Sense Data / b. Nature of sense-data

6453	Some claim sense-data are public, and are parts of objects [Lacey]
	Full Idea: Sometimes it is said that sense-data are public, and parts either of objects or of the surfaces of objects.
	From: A.R. Lacey (A Dictionary of Philosophy [1976], p.196)
	A reaction: This suggests two drastically different theories, one making sense-data into mental events, the other placing them in the 'external' world. The latter theory can dovetail them with the physics, but then why would we need them?

6454	Where do sense-data begin or end? Can they change? What sort of thing are they? [Lacey]
	Full Idea: It is hard to individuate sense-data, saying where one ends and the next begins, and hard to say whether they can change; are they substances, qualities, events, or what?
	From: A.R. Lacey (A Dictionary of Philosophy [1976], p.196)
	A reaction: The problem is not that these questions are unanswerable. The answer seems to be either that they are physical and external, or that they are mental and internal, and that there is no ontological space for them between the two.

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues

7903	The six perfections are giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, and wisdom [Nagarjuna]
	Full Idea: The six perfections are of giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, and wisdom.
	From: Nagarjuna (Mahaprajnaparamitashastra [c.120], 88)
	A reaction: What is 'morality', if giving is not part of it? I like patience and vigour being two of the virtues, which immediately implies an Aristotelian mean (which is always what is 'appropriate').