Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Sentences' and 'The Pragmatist Account of Truth'

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5 ideas

2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 3. Non-Contradiction

22642	Man has an intense natural interest in the consistency of his own thinking [James]
	Full Idea: After man's interest in breathing freely, the greatest of all his interests (because it never fluctuates or remits….) is his interest in consistency, in feeling that what he now thinks goes with what he thinks on other occasions.
	From: William James (The Pragmatist Account of Truth [1908], 'Seventh')
	A reaction: People notoriously contradict themselves all the time, but I suspect that it is when they get out of their depth in complexities such as politics. They probably achieve great consistency within their own expertise, and in common knowledge.

7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 8. Facts / c. Facts and truths

22641	Realities just are, and beliefs are true of them [James]
	Full Idea: Realities are not true, they are; and beliefs are true of them.
	From: William James (The Pragmatist Account of Truth [1908], 'Fourth')
	A reaction: At last, a remark by James about truth which I really like. For 'realities' I would use the word 'facts'.

13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 5. Coherentism / b. Pro-coherentism

22640	We find satisfaction in consistency of all of our beliefs, perceptions and mental connections [James]
	Full Idea: We find satisfaction in consistency between the present idea and the entire rest of our mental equipment, including the whole order of our sensations, and that of our intuitions of likeness and difference, and our whole stock previously acquired truths.
	From: William James (The Pragmatist Account of Truth [1908], 'Fourth')
	A reaction: I like this, apart from the idea that the criterion of good coherence seems to be subjective 'satisfaction'. We should ask why some large set of beliefs is coherent. I assume nature is coherent, and truth is the best explanation of our coherence about it.

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').

27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / e. Eventless time

16697	Time is independent of motion, because God could stop everything for a short or long time [Crathorn, by Pasnau]
	Full Idea: Suppose God annihilates everything, and then creates something new. The vacant interval could last a shorter or longer time, so there are facts about time independent of facts about motion.
	From: report of William Crathorn (Sentences [1335], I.16, concl.2) by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 18.2
	A reaction: Not very persuasive if God is in some way 'timeless'. Crathorn would have loved Shoemaker's argument, where motionless time is the best explanation, rather than a possible explanation.