Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Good and Evil', 'Giordano Bruno and Hermetic Tradition' and 'Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason'

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9 ideas

1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 4. Early European Thought

9291	The dating, in 1614, of the Hermetic writings as post-Christian is the end of the Renaissance [Yates]
	Full Idea: The dating by Isaac Casaubon in 1614 of the Hermetic writings as not the work of a very ancient Egyptian priest but written in post-Christian times, is a watershed separating the Renaissance world from the modern world.
	From: Frances A. Yates (Giordano Bruno and Hermetic Tradition [1964], Ch.21)
	A reaction: I tend to place the end of the Renaissance with the arrival of the telescope in 1610, so the two dates coincide. Simply, magic was replaced by science. Religion ran alongside, gasping for breath. Mathematics was freed from numerology.

9288	The magic of Asclepius enters Renaissance thought mixed into Ficino's neo-platonism [Yates]
	Full Idea: The magic of Asclepius, reinterpreted through Plotinus, enters with Ficino's De Vita into the neo-platonic philosophy of the Renaissance, and, moreover, into Ficino's Christian Platonism.
	From: Frances A. Yates (Giordano Bruno and Hermetic Tradition [1964], Ch.4)
	A reaction: Asclepius is the source of 'Hermetic' philosophy. This move seems to be what gives the Renaissance period its rather quirky and distinctive character. Montaigne was not a typical figure. Most of them wanted to become gods and control the stars!

1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 4. Later European Philosophy / c. Eighteenth century philosophy

21463	Hamann, Herder and Jacobi were key opponents of the Enlightenment [Gardner]
	Full Idea: Hamann, Herder and Jacobi are central figues in the reaction against Enlightenment.
	From: Sebastian Gardner (Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason [1999], 10 'immediate')
	A reaction: From a British perspective I would see Hume as the leading such figure. Hamann emphasised the neglect of the role of language. Jacobi was a Christian.

21459	Kant halted rationalism, and forced empiricists to worry about foundations [Gardner]
	Full Idea: Kant's Critique swiftly brought rationalism to a halt, and after Kant empiricism has displayed a nervousness regarding its foundations, and been forced to assume more sophisticated forms.
	From: Sebastian Gardner (Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason [1999], 10 Intro)
	A reaction: See the ideas of Laurence Bonjour for a modern revival of rationalism. After Kant philosophers either went existential, or stared gloomily into the obscure depths. Formal logic was seen as a possible rope ladder down.

1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 3. Metaphysical Systems

21460	Only Kant and Hegel have united nature, morals, politics, aesthetics and religion [Gardner]
	Full Idea: Apart from Hegel, no later philosophical system equals in stature Kant's attempt to weld together the diverse fields of natural science, morality, politics, aesthetics and religion into a systematic overarching epistemological and metaphysical unity.
	From: Sebastian Gardner (Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason [1999], 10)
	A reaction: Earlier candidate are Plato and Aristotle. Earlier Enlightenment figures say little about morality or aesthetics. Hobbes ranges widely. Aquinas covered most things.

2. Reason / E. Argument / 2. Transcendental Argument

21443	Transcendental proofs derive necessities from possibilities (e.g. possibility of experiencing objects) [Gardner]
	Full Idea: A transcendental proof converts a possibility into a necessity: by saying under what conditions experience of objects is possible, transcendental proofs show those conditions to be necessary for us to the extent that we have any experience of objects.
	From: Sebastian Gardner (Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason [1999], 02 'Transc')
	A reaction: They appear to be hypothetical necessities, rather than true metaphysical necessities. Gardner is discussing Kant, but seems to be generalising. Hypothetical necessities are easy: if it is flying, it is necessarily above the ground.

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry

21444	Modern geoemtry is either 'pure' (and formal), or 'applied' (and a posteriori) [Gardner]
	Full Idea: There is now 'pure' geometry, consisting of formal systems based on axioms for which truth is not claimed, and which are consequently not synthetic; and 'applied', a branch of physics, the truth of which is empirical, and therefore not a priori.
	From: Sebastian Gardner (Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason [1999], 03 'Maths')
	A reaction: His point is that there is no longer any room for a priori geometry. Might the same division be asserted of arithmetic, or analysis, or set theory?

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / c. Monads

21453	Leibnizian monads qualify as Kantian noumena [Gardner]
	Full Idea: Leibnizian monads clearly satisfy Kant's definition of noumena.
	From: Sebastian Gardner (Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason [1999], 06 'Noumena')
	A reaction: This needs qualifying, because Leibniz clearly specifies the main attributes of monads, where Kant is adamant that we can saying virtually nothing about noumena.

22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / a. Form of the Good

22489	'Good' is an attributive adjective like 'large', not predicative like 'red' [Geach, by Foot]
	Full Idea: Geach puts 'good' in the class of attributive adjectives, such as 'large' and 'small', contrasting such adjectives with 'predicative' adjectives such as 'red'.
	From: report of Peter Geach (Good and Evil [1956]) by Philippa Foot - Natural Goodness Intro
	A reaction: [In Analysis 17, and 'Theories of Ethics' ed Foot] Thus any object can simply be red, but something can only be large or small 'for a rat' or 'for a car'. Hence nothing is just good, but always a good so-and-so. This is Aristotelian, and Foot loves it.