Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Leibniz: Guide for the Perplexed' and 'Prologue to Ordinatio'

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4 ideas

9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / d. Substance defined

19347	Substance needs independence, unity, and stability (for individuation); also it is a subject, for predicates [Perkins]
	Full Idea: For individuation, substance needs three properties: independence, to separate it from other things; unity, to call it one thing, rather than an aggregate; and permanence or stability over time. Its other role is as subject for predicates.
	From: Franklin Perkins (Leibniz: Guide for the Perplexed [2007], 3.1)
	A reaction: Perkins is describing the Aristotelian view, which is taken up by Leibniz. 'Substance' is not a controversial idea, if we see that it only means that the world is full of 'things'. It is an unusual philosopher wholly totally denies that.

11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / c. Aim of beliefs

9100	Our intellect only assents to what we believe to be true [William of Ockham]
	Full Idea: Our intellect does not assent to anything unless we believe it to be true.
	From: William of Ockham (Prologue to Ordinatio [1320], Q 1 N sqq)
	A reaction: This strikes me as being a much more accurate and commonsense view of belief than that of Hume, who simply views it phenomenologically. ...But then the remark appears to be circular. Belief requires a belief that it is true. Hm.

15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 3. Abstraction by mind

9101	Abstractive cognition knows universals abstracted from many singulars [William of Ockham]
	Full Idea: Abstractive cognition (in one sense) relates to something abstracted from many singulars; and in this sense abstractive cognition is nothing else but cognition of a universal which can be abstracted from many things.
	From: William of Ockham (Prologue to Ordinatio [1320], Q 1 N sqq)
	A reaction: This strikes me as being correct common sense, even though it has become deeply unfashionable since Frege. We may not be able to see quite how the mind manages to see universals in a bunch of objects, but there is no better story.

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').