Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Preface to Universal Characteristic' and 'The Theory of Transfinite Numbers'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these texts

---

4 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 2. Invocation to Philosophy

2118	All other human gifts can harm us, but not correct reasoning [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: Although people can be made worse off by all other gifts, correct reasoning alone can only be for the good.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (Preface to Universal Characteristic [1679])
	A reaction: How about a kind heart? Not everyone would agree with the remark, but philosophers should.

4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 1. Set Theory

9616	A set is a collection into a whole of distinct objects of our intuition or thought [Cantor]
	Full Idea: A set is any collection into a whole M of definite, distinct objects m ... of our intuition or thought.
	From: George Cantor (The Theory of Transfinite Numbers [1897], p.85), quoted by James Robert Brown - Philosophy of Mathematics Ch.2
	A reaction: This is the original conception of a set, which hit trouble with Russell's Paradox. Cantor's original definition immediately invites thoughts about the status of vague objects.

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / f. Uncountable infinities

15896	Cantor needed Power Set for the reals, but then couldn't count the new collections [Cantor, by Lavine]
	Full Idea: Cantor grafted the Power Set axiom onto his theory when he needed it to incorporate the real numbers, ...but his theory was supposed to be theory of collections that can be counted, but he didn't know how to count the new collections.
	From: report of George Cantor (The Theory of Transfinite Numbers [1897]) by Shaughan Lavine - Understanding the Infinite I
	A reaction: I take this to refer to the countability of the sets, rather than the members of the sets. Lavine notes that counting was Cantor's key principle, but he now had to abandon it. Zermelo came to the rescue.

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').