Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Phenomenology of Perception' and 'Mathematics: Form and Function'

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4 ideas

4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 4. Axioms for Sets / a. Axioms for sets

18189	ZFC could contain a contradiction, and it can never prove its own consistency [MacLane]
	Full Idea: We have at hand no proof that the axioms of ZFC for set theory will never yield a contradiction, while Gödel's second theorem tells us that such a consistency proof cannot be conducted within ZFC.
	From: Saunders MacLane (Mathematics: Form and Function [1986], p.406), quoted by Penelope Maddy - Naturalism in Mathematics
	A reaction: Maddy quotes this, while defending set theory as the foundation of mathematics, but it clearly isn't the most secure foundation that could be devised. She says the benefits of set theory do not need guaranteed consistency (p.30).

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito

21862	Consciousness is based on 'I can', not on 'I think' [Merleau-Ponty]
	Full Idea: Consciousness is in the first place not a matter of 'I think' but of 'I can'.
	From: Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Phenomenology of Perception [1945], p.159), quoted by Beth Lord - Spinoza's Ethics 2 'Sensation'
	A reaction: The point here (quoted during a discussion of Spinoza) is that you can't leave out the role of the body, which seems correct.

12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 5. Interpretation

20750	The mind does not unite perceptions, because they flow into one another [Merleau-Ponty]
	Full Idea: I do not have one perception, then another, and between them a link brought about by the mind. Rather, each perspective merges into the other [against a unified background].
	From: Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Phenomenology of Perception [1945], p.329-30), quoted by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 3 'Perceptual'
	A reaction: I take this to be another piece of evidence pointing to realism as the best explanation of experience. A problem for Descartes is what unites the sequence of thoughts.

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').