Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'works' and 'What Does It All Mean?'

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4 ideas

2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 2. Sufficient Reason

18241	Sufficient reason is implied by contradiction, of an insufficient possible which exists [Wolff, by Korsgaard]
	Full Idea: Wolff believed that the principle of sufficient reason could be derived from the principle of contradiction, for there would be a contradiction in the insufficiently determined existence of a merely possible thing.
	From: report of Christian Wolff (works [1730]) by Christine M. Korsgaard - Intro to Ethics, Politics, Religion in Kant 'A child'
	A reaction: Sounds as if he might be begging to question. You would only protest against the insufficient determination of something if you already believed in the principle of sufficient reason. Nice try.

19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 6. Meaning as Use

4001	The meaning of a word contains all its possible uses as well as its actual ones [Nagel]
	Full Idea: The meaning of a word contains all its possible uses, true and false, not only its actual ones.
	From: Thomas Nagel (What Does It All Mean? [1987], Ch.5)
	A reaction: It has always seemed to me that meaning is not use, because you can't use it if it hasn't already got a meaning. What use is a meaningless word?

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').

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / b. Euthyphro question

18242	Confucius shows that ethics can rest on reason, rather than on revelation [Wolff, by Korsgaard]
	Full Idea: Wolff claimed that the moral philosophy of Confucius shows that ethics is accessible to natural reason and independent of revelation.
	From: report of Christian Wolff (works [1730]) by Christine M. Korsgaard - Intro to Ethics, Politics, Religion in Kant 'A child'
	A reaction: Wolff was banished for proposing this idea.