Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Commentary on 'Posterior Analytics' and 'Real Essence'

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5 ideas

2. Reason / D. Definition / 4. Real Definition

16030	'Nominal' definitions identify things, but fail to give their essence [Jones,J-E]
	Full Idea: In the Aristotelian tradition, a 'nominal' definition is a pseudo-definition that identifies the members of the species or genus, but fails to capture the essence, e.g. 'man is the featherless biped'.
	From: Jan-Erik Jones (Real Essence [2012], §2)
	A reaction: You can 'individuate' an object as 'the only object in that drawer', while revealing nothing about it. So what must a definition do, in addition to picking something out uniquely?

18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 8. Abstractionism Critique

9073	Abstraction from an ambiguous concept like 'mole' will define them as the same [Barnes,J]
	Full Idea: The procedure of abstraction will not allow us to distinguish the ambiguity between 'mole' as an animal and as an artefact. The stages of abstraction will only end up with 'physical object', and this will then count as the definition.
	From: Jonathan Barnes (Commentary on 'Posterior Analytics [1993], n to 97b7)
	A reaction: This is a problem if you adhere to a rather precise account of the steps of abstraction, with every stage explicit (and probably expressed in terms of sets), but I suspect that the real tangle of semi-conscious abstraction avoids this problem.

9074	Abstraction cannot produce the concept of a 'game', as there is no one common feature [Barnes,J]
	Full Idea: Abstractions cannot account for those general terms whose instances do not have any set of features in common. The word 'game' is not ambiguous, but not all games have one thing in common; they are united by looser 'family resemblance'.
	From: Jonathan Barnes (Commentary on 'Posterior Analytics [1993], n to 97b7)
	A reaction: (This point comes from Wittgenstein, Idea 4141) English-speakers can't agree on borderline cases (avoiding cracks in pavements). Life is just a game. The objection would be refuted by discussion of higher-level abstractions to make connections.

9072	Defining concepts by abstractions will collect together far too many attributes from entities [Barnes,J]
	Full Idea: If we create abstractions by collection of attributes common to groups of entities, we will collect far too many attributes, and wrongly put them into the definition (such as 'having hairless palms' when identifying 'men').
	From: Jonathan Barnes (Commentary on 'Posterior Analytics [1993], n to 97b7)
	A reaction: [compressed] Defining 'man' is a hugely complex business (see Idea 1763!), unlike defining 'hair' or 'red'. Some attributes will strike perceivers immediately, but absence of an attribute is not actually 'perceived' at all.

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').