3 ideas
16567 | Scientists know everything about nothing, philosophers nothing about everything [Sagan,D] |
Full Idea: The scientist learns more and more about less and less, until she knows everything about nothing, whereas a philosopher learns less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything. | |
From: Dorion Sagan (Cosmic Apprentice [2013]) | |
A reaction: [Came via Twitter] Not sure if this is true, but it is too nice to miss. |
18265 | We don't judge by combining subject and concept; we get a concept by splitting up a judgement [Frege] |
Full Idea: Instead of putting a judgement together out of an individual as subject and an already previously formed concept as predicate, we do the opposite and arrive at a concept by splitting up the content of possible judgement. | |
From: Gottlob Frege (Boole calculus and the Concept script [1881], p.17) | |
A reaction: This is behind holistic views of sentences, and hence of whole languages, and behind Quine's rejection of 'properties' inferred from the predicates in judgements. |
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'). |