Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'General Draft', 'Recent Debates on the A Priori' and 'Contributions of Philosophy (On Appropriation)'

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4 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / a. Philosophy as worldly

22026	Philosophy is homesickness - the urge to be at home everywhere [Novalis]
	Full Idea: Philosophy is actually homesickness - the urge to be everywhere at home.
	From: Novalis (General Draft [1799], 45)
	A reaction: The idea of home [heimat] is powerful in German culture. The point of romanticism was seen as largely concerning restless souls like Byron and his heroes, who do not feel at home. Hence ironic detachment.

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / b. Philosophy as transcendent

15586	When philosophy makes itself intelligible, it commits suicide [Heidegger]
	Full Idea: When philosophy makes itself intelligible, it commits suicide.
	From: Martin Heidegger (Contributions of Philosophy (On Appropriation) [1938], §259), quoted by Richard Polt - Heidegger: an introduction 5 'Contributions'
	A reaction: Polt describes this remark as 'theatrical', but it seems to speak for itself!

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 1. Mathematics

9226	If mathematical theories conflict, it may just be that they have different subject matter [Field,H]
	Full Idea: Unlike logic, in the case of mathematics there may be no genuine conflict between alternative theories: it is natural to think that different theories, if both consistent, are simply about different subjects.
	From: Hartry Field (Recent Debates on the A Priori [2005], 7)
	A reaction: For this reason Field places logic at the heart of questions about a priori knowledge, rather than mathematics. My intuitions make me doubt his proposal. Given the very simple basis of, say, arithmetic, I would expect all departments to connect.

15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 6. Idealisation

19591	Desire for perfection is an illness, if it turns against what is imperfect [Novalis]
	Full Idea: An absolute drive toward perfection and completeness is an illness, as soon as it shows itself to be destructive and averse toward the imperfect, the incomplete.
	From: Novalis (General Draft [1799], 33)
	A reaction: Deep and true! Novalis seems to be a particularist - hanging on to the fine detail of life, rather than being immersed in the theory. These are the philosophers who also turn to literature.