178 ideas
11421 | 427: Gorgias visited Athens as ambassador for Leontini [PG] |
Full Idea: In 427 BCE Gorgias of Leontini visited Athens as an ambassador for his city | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0573) |
11425 | 399: Socrates executed (with Plato absent through ill health) [PG] |
Full Idea: In 399 BCE Plato was unwell, and was not present at the death of Socrates | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0601) |
11432 | 387 (roughly): Plato returned to Athens, and founded the Academy [PG] |
Full Idea: In about 387 BCE Plato returned to Athens and founded his new school at the Academy | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0613) |
11433 | 387 (roughly): Aristippus the Elder founder a hedonist school at Cyrene [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 387 BCE a new school was founded at Cyrene by Aristippus the elder | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0613) |
11440 | 367: the teenaged Aristotle came to study at the Academy [PG] |
Full Idea: In 367 BCE the seventeen-year-old Aristotle came south to study at the Academy | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0633) |
11443 | 360 (roughly): Diogenes of Sinope lives in a barrel in central Athens [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 360 BCE Diogenes of Sinope was living in a barrel in the Agora in Athens | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0640) |
11445 | 347: death of Plato [PG] |
Full Idea: In 347 BCE Plato died | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0653) |
11454 | 343: Aristotle becomes tutor to 13 year old Alexander (the Great) [PG] |
Full Idea: In 343 BCE at Stagira Aristotle became personal tutor to the thirteen-year-old Alexander (the Great) | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0657) |
11456 | 335: Arisotle founded his school at the Lyceum in Athens [PG] |
Full Idea: In 335 BCE Aristotle founded the Lyceum in Athens | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0665) |
11459 | 330 (roughly): Chuang Tzu wrote his Taoist book [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 330 BCE Chuang Tzu wrote a key work in the Taoist tradition | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0670) |
11465 | 322: Aristotle retired to Chalcis, and died there [PG] |
Full Idea: In 322 BCE Aristotle retired to Chalcis in Euboea, where he died | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0678) |
11468 | 307 (roughly): Epicurus founded his school at the Garden in Athens [PG] |
Full Idea: In about 307 BCE Epicurus founded his school at the Garden in Athens | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0693) |
11470 | 301 (roughly): Zeno of Citium founded Stoicism at the Stoa Poikile in Athens [PG] |
Full Idea: In about 301 BCE the Stoic school was founded by Zeno of Citium in the Stoa Poikile in Athens | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0699) |
11483 | 261: Cleanthes replaced Zeno as head of the Stoa [PG] |
Full Idea: In 261 BCE Cleanthes took over from Zeno as head of the Stoa. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0739) |
11486 | 229 (roughly): Chrysippus replaced Cleanthes has head of the Stoa [PG] |
Full Idea: In about 229 BCE Chrysippus took over from Cleanthes as the head of the Stoic school | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0771) |
11492 | 157 (roughly): Carneades became head of the Academy [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 157 BCE Carneades took over as head of the Academy from Hegesinus | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0843) |
11509 | 85: most philosophical activity moves to Alexandria [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 85 BCE Athens went into philosophical decline, and leadership moved to Alexandria | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0915) |
11513 | 78: Cicero visited the stoic school on Rhodes [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 78 BCE Cicero visited the school of Posidonius in Rhodes. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0922) |
11516 | 60 (roughly): Lucretius wrote his Latin poem on epicureanism [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 60 BCE Lucretius wrote his Latin poem on Epicureanism | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0940) |
11528 | 65: Seneca forced to commit suicide by Nero [PG] |
Full Idea: In 65 CE Seneca was forced to commit suicide by the Emperor Nero. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1065) |
11531 | 80: the discourses of the stoic Epictetus are written down [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 80 CE the 'Discourses' of the freed slave Epictetus were written down in Rome. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1080) |
11461 | 323 (roughly): Euclid wrote 'Elements', summarising all of geometry [PG] |
Full Idea: Euclid: In around 323 BCE Euclid wrote his 'Elements', summarising all of known geometry. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030]) |
11390 | 1000 (roughly): Upanishads written (in Sanskrit); religious and philosophical texts [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1000 BCE the Upanishads were written, the most philosophical of ancient Hindu texts | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0001) |
11391 | 750 (roughly): the Book of Genesis written by Hebrew writers [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 750 BCE the Book of Genesis was written by an anonymous jewish writer | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0250) |
11392 | 586: eclipse of the sun on the coast of modern Turkey was predicted by Thales of Miletus [PG] |
Full Idea: In 585 BCE there was an eclipse of the sun, which Thales of Miletus is said to have predicted | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0415) |
11395 | 570: Anaximander flourished in Miletus [PG] |
Full Idea: Anaximander: In around 570 BCE the philosopher and astronomer Anaximander flourished in Miletus | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0430) |
11396 | 563: the Buddha born in northern India [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 563 BCE Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, was born in northern India | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0437) |
11398 | 540: Lao Tzu wrote 'Tao Te Ching', the basis of Taoism [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 540 BCE Lao Tzu wrote the 'Tao Te Ching', the basis of Taoism | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0460) |
11400 | 529: Pythagoras created his secretive community at Croton in Sicily [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 529 BCE Pythagoras set up a community in Croton, with strict and secret rules and teachings | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0471) |
11403 | 500: Heraclitus flourishes at Ephesus, in modern Turkey [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 500 BCE Heraclitus flourished in the city of Ephesus in Ionia | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0500) |
11404 | 496: Confucius travels widely, persuading rulers to be more moral [PG] |
Full Idea: In 496 BCE Confucius began a period of wandering, to persuade rulers to be more moral | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0504) |
11408 | 472: Empedocles persuades his city (Acragas in Sicily) to become a democracy [PG] |
Full Idea: In 472 BCE Empedocles helped his city of Acragas change to democracy | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0528) |
11412 | 450 (roughly): Parmenides and Zeno visit Athens from Italy [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 450 BCE Parmenides and Zeno visited the festival in Athens | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0550) |
11414 | 445: Protagoras helps write laws for the new colony of Thurii [PG] |
Full Idea: In 443 BCE Protagoras helped write the laws for the new colony of Thurii | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0557) |
11417 | 436 (roughly): Anaxagoras is tried for impiety, and expelled from Athens [PG] |
Full Idea: In about 436 BCE Anaxagoras was tried on a charge of impiety and expelled from Athens | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 0564) |
11535 | 170 (roughly): Marcus Aurelius wrote his private stoic meditations [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 170 CE the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his 'Meditations' for private reading. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1170) |
11537 | -200 (roughly): Sextus Empiricus wrote a series of books on scepticism [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 200 CE Sextus Empiricus wrote a series of books (which survive) defending scepticism | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1200) |
11541 | 263: Porphyry began to study with Plotinus in Rome [PG] |
Full Idea: In 263 CE Porphyry joined Plotinus' classes in Rome | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1263) |
11545 | 310: Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire [PG] |
Full Idea: In 310 CE Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1310) |
11549 | 387: Ambrose converts Augustine to Christianity [PG] |
Full Idea: In 387 CE Augustine converted to Christianity in Milan, guided by St Ambrose | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1387) |
11555 | 523: Boethius imprisoned at Pavia, and begins to write [PG] |
Full Idea: In 523 CE Boethius was imprisoned in exile at Pavia, and wrote 'Consolations of Philosophy' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1523) |
11557 | 529: the emperor Justinian closes all the philosophy schools in Athens [PG] |
Full Idea: In 529 CE the Emperor Justinian closed all the philosophy schools in Athens | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1529) |
11558 | 622 (roughly): Mohammed writes the Koran [PG] |
Full Idea: Mohammed: In about 622 CE Muhammed wrote the basic text of Islam, the Koran. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1622) |
11559 | 642: Arabs close the philosophy schools in Alexandria [PG] |
Full Idea: In 642 CE Alexandria was captured by the Arabs, and the philosophy schools were closed | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1642) |
11560 | 910 (roughly): Al-Farabi wrote Arabic commentaries on Aristotle [PG] |
Full Idea: Alfarabi: In around 910 CE Al-Farabi explained and expanded Aristotle for the Islamic world. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 1910) |
11562 | 1015 (roughly): Ibn Sina (Avicenna) writes a book on Aristotle [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1015 Avicenna produced his Platonised version of Aristotle in 'The Healing' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2015) |
11564 | 1090: Anselm publishes his proof of the existence of God [PG] |
Full Idea: Anselm: In about 1090 St Anselm of Canterbury publishes his Ontological Proof of God's existence | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2090) |
11566 | 1115: Abelard is the chief logic teacher in Paris [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1115 Abelard became established as the chief logic teacher in Paris | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2115) |
11573 | 1166: Ibn Rushd (Averroes) wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotle [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1166 Averroes (Ibn Rushd), in Seville, wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotle | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2166) |
11581 | 1266: Aquinas began writing 'Summa Theologica' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1266 Aquinas began writing his great theological work, the 'Summa Theologica' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2266) |
11586 | 1280: after his death, the teaching of Aquinas becomes official Dominican doctrine [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1280 Aquinas's teaching became the official theology of the Dominican order | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2280) |
11591 | 1328: William of Ockham decides the Pope is a heretic, and moves to Munich [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1328 William of Ockham decided the Pope was a heretic, and moved to Munich | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2328) |
17916 | 1347: the Church persecutes philosophical heresies [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1347 the Church began extensive persecution of unorthodox philosophical thought | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2347) |
11593 | 1470: Marsilio Ficino founds a Platonic Academy in Florence [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1470 Marsilio Ficino founded a Platonic Academy in Florence | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2470) |
11596 | 1513: Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1513 Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince', a tough view of political theory. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2513) |
11599 | 1543: Copernicus publishes his heliocentric view of the solar system [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish monk, publishes his new theory of the solar system. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2543) |
11601 | 1580: Montaigne publishes his essays [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1580 Montaigne published a volume of his 'Essays' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2580) |
11607 | 1600: Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1600 Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake in Rome, largely for endorsing Copernicus | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2600) |
11613 | 1619: Descartes's famous day of meditation inside a stove [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1619 Descartes had a famous day of meditation in a heated stove at Ulm | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2619) |
11614 | 1620: Bacon publishes 'Novum Organum' [PG] |
Full Idea: Francis Bacon: In 1620 Bacon published his 'Novum Organon', urging the rise of experimental science | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2620) |
11619 | 1633: Galileo convicted of heresy by the Inquisition [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1633 Galileo was condemned to life emprisonment for contradicting church teachings. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2633) |
11623 | 1641: Descartes publishes his 'Meditations' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1641 Descartes published his well-known 'Meditations', complete with Objections and Replies | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2641) |
11626 | 1650: death of Descartes, in Stockholm [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1650 Descartes died in Stockholm, after stressful work for Queen Christina | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2650) |
11627 | 1651: Hobbes publishes 'Leviathan' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1651 Hobbes published his great work on politics and contract morality, 'Leviathan' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2651) |
11633 | 1662: the Port Royal Logic is published [PG] |
Full Idea: Antoine Arnauld: In 1662 Arnauld and Nicole published their famous text, the 'Port-Royal Logic' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2662) |
11634 | 1665: Spinoza writes his 'Ethics' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1665 the first draft of Spinoza's 'Ethics', his major work, was finished, and published posthumously | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2665) |
11643 | 1676: Leibniz settled as librarian to the Duke of Brunswick [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1676 Leibniz became librarian to the Duke of Brunswick, staying for the rest of his life | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2676) |
11649 | 1687: Newton publishes his 'Principia Mathematica' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1687 Newton published his 'Principia', containing his theory of gravity. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2687) |
11652 | 1690: Locke publishes his 'Essay' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1690 Locke published his 'Essay', his major work on empiricism | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2690) |
11654 | 1697: Bayle publishes his 'Dictionary' [PG] |
Full Idea: Pierre Bayle: In about 1697 Pierre Bayle published his 'Historical and Critical Dictionary' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2697) |
11659 | 1713: Berkeley publishes his 'Three Dialogues' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1713 Berkeley published a popular account of his empiricist idealism in 'Three Dialogues' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2713) |
11666 | 1734: Voltaire publishes his 'Philosophical Letters' [PG] |
Full Idea: Francois-Marie Voltaire: In 1734 Voltaire's 'Lettres Philosophiques' praised liberalism and empiricism | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2734) |
11667 | 1739: Hume publishes his 'Treatise' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1739 Hume returned to Edinburgh and published his 'Treatise', but it sold very few copies | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2739) |
11675 | 1762: Rousseau publishes his 'Social Contract' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1762 Rousseau published his 'Social Contract', basing politics on the popular will | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2762) |
11682 | 1781: Kant publishes his 'Critique of Pure Reason' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1781 Kant published his first great work, the 'Critique of Pure Reason' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2781) |
11683 | 1785: Reid publishes his essays defending common sense [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1785 Thomas Reid, based in Glasgow, published essays defending common sense. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2785) |
11687 | 1798: the French Revolution [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1789 the French Revolution gave strong impetus to the anti-rational 'Romantic' movement | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2789) |
11694 | 1807: Hegel publishes his 'Phenomenology of Spirit' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1807 Hegel published his first major work, the 'Phenomenology of Spirit' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2807) |
11701 | 1818: Schopenhauer publishes his 'World as Will and Idea' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1818 Schopenhauer published 'The World as Will and Idea', his major work | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2818) |
11710 | 1840: Kierkegaard is writing extensively in Copenhagen [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1840 Kierkegaard lived a quiet life as a writer in Copenhagen | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2840) |
11713 | 1843: Mill publishes his 'System of Logic' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1843 Mill published his 'System of Logic' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2843) |
11715 | 1848: Marx and Engels publis the Communist Manifesto [PG] |
Full Idea: Karl Marx: In 1848 Marx and Engels published their 'Communist Manifesto' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2848) |
11717 | 1859: Darwin publishes his 'Origin of the Species' [PG] |
Full Idea: Charles Darwin: In 1859 Charles Darwin published his theory of natural selection in 'Origin of the Species'. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2859) |
11721 | 1861: Mill publishes 'Utilitarianism' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1861 Mill published his book 'Utilitarianism' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2861) |
11724 | 1867: Marx begins publishing 'Das Kapital' [PG] |
Full Idea: Karl Marx: In 1867 Karl Marx began publishing his political work 'Das Kapital' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2867) |
11733 | 1879: Peirce taught for five years at Johns Hopkins University [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1879 Peirce began five years of teaching at Johns Hopkins University | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2879) |
17907 | 1879: Frege invents predicate logic [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1879 Frege published his 'Concept Script', which created predicate logic | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2879) |
17909 | 1892: Frege's essay 'Sense and Reference' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1892 Frege published his famous essay 'Sense and Reference' (Sinn und Bedeutung) | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2882) |
17908 | 1884: Frege publishes his 'Foundations of Arithmetic' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1884 Frege published his 'Foundations of Arithmetic', the beginning of logicism | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2884) |
11735 | 1885: Nietzsche completed 'Thus Spake Zarathustra' [PG] |
Full Idea: In about 1885 Nietzsche completed his book 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2885) |
17911 | 1888: Dedekind publishes axioms for arithmetic [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1888 Dedekind created simple axioms for arithmetic (the Peano Axioms) | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2888) |
11740 | 1890: James published 'Principles of Psychology' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1890 James published his 'Principles of Psychology' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2890) |
11742 | 1895 (roughly): Freud developed theories of the unconscious [PG] |
Full Idea: In around 1895 Sigmund Freud developed his theories of the unconscious mind | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2895) |
11745 | 1900: Husserl began developing Phenomenology [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1900 Edmund Husserl began presenting his new philosophy of Phenomenology | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2900) |
11746 | 1903: Moore published 'Principia Ethica' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1903 G.E. Moore published his 'Principia Ethica', attacking naturalistic ethics. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2903) |
11747 | 1904: Dewey became professor at Columbia University [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1904 Dewey moved to Columbia University in New York. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2904) |
17910 | 1908: Zermelo publishes axioms for set theory [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1908 Zermelo published an axiomatisation of the new set theory | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2908) |
11752 | 1910: Russell and Whitehead begin publishing 'Principia Mathematica' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1910 Russell began publication of 'Principia Mathematica', with Whitehead | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2910) |
11756 | 1912: Russell meets Wittgenstein in Cambridge [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1912 Russell met Wittgenstein at Cambridge | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2912) |
11762 | 1921: Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus' published [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1921 Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus' was published | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2921) |
11765 | 1927: Heidegger's 'Being and Time' published [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1927 Heidegger's major work, 'Being and Time', was published | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2927) |
11768 | 1930: Frank Ramsey dies at 27 [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1930 Frank Ramsey died at the age of 27. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2930) |
11770 | 1931: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems [PG] |
Full Idea: Kurt Gödel: In 1931 the mathematician Kurt Gödel publishes his Incompleteness Theorems. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2931) |
11773 | 1933: Tarski's theory of truth [PG] |
Full Idea: Alfred Tarski: In 1933 Alfred Tarski wrote a famous paper presenting a semantic theory of truth. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2933) |
11783 | 1942: Camus published 'The Myth of Sisyphus' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1942 Camus published 'The Myth of Sisyphus', exploring suicide and the absurd | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2942) |
11784 | 1943: Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1943 Jean-Paul Sartre published his major work, 'Being and Nothingness' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2943) |
11787 | 1945: Merleau-Ponty's 'Phenomenology of Perception' [PG] |
Full Idea: Maurice Merleau-Ponty: In 1945 Maurice Merleau-Pont published 'The Phenomenology of Perception' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2945) |
17918 | 1947: Carnap published 'Meaning and Necessity' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1947 Carnap published 'Meaning and Necessity' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2947) |
11794 | 1950: Quine's essay 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1950 Willard Quine published 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism', attacking analytic truth | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2950) |
17917 | 1953: Wittgenstein's 'Philosophical Investigations' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1953 Wittgenstein's posthumous work 'Philosophical Investigations' is published | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2953) |
17919 | 1956: Place proposed mind-brain identity [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1956 U.T. Place proposed that the mind is identical to the brain | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2956) |
11804 | 1962: Kuhn's 'Structure of Scientific Revolutions' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1962 Thomas Kuhn's 'Structure of Scientific Revolutions' questioned the authority of science | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2962) |
17921 | 1967: Putnam proposed functionalism of the mind [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1967 Putname proposed the functionalist view of the mind | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2967) |
11808 | 1971: Rawls's 'A Theory of Justice' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1971 John Rawls published his famous defence of liberalism in 'A Theory of Justice' | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2971) |
11810 | 1972: Kripke publishes 'Naming and Necessity' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1972 Saul Kripke's 'Naming and Necessity' revised theories about language and reality | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2972) |
11813 | 1975: Singer publishes 'Animal Rights' [PG] |
Full Idea: Peter Singer: In 1975 Peter Singer's 'Animal Rights' turned the attention of philosophers to applied ethics. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2975) |
17920 | 1975: Putnam published his Twin Earth example [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1975 Putnam published 'The Meaning of 'Meaning'', containing his Twin Earth example | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2975) |
11820 | 1986: David Lewis publishes 'On the Plurality of Worlds' [PG] |
Full Idea: In 1986 David Lewis published 'On the Plurality of Worlds', about possible worlds. | |
From: PG (Db (chronology) [2030], 2986) |
224 | When questions are doubtful we should concentrate not on objects but on ideas of the intellect [Plato] |
Full Idea: Doubtful questions should not be discussed in terms of visible objects or in relation to them, but only with reference to ideas conceived by the intellect. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 135e) |
232 | Opposites are as unlike as possible [Plato] |
Full Idea: Opposites are as unlike as possible. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 159a) |
8937 | Plato's 'Parmenides' is the greatest artistic achievement of the ancient dialectic [Hegel on Plato] |
Full Idea: Plato's 'Parmenides' is the greatest artistic achievement of the ancient dialectic. | |
From: comment on Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE]) by Georg W.F.Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit Pref 71 | |
A reaction: It is a long way from the analytic tradition of philosophy to be singling out a classic text for its 'artistic' achievement. Eventually we may even look back on, say, Kripke's 'Naming and Necessity' and see it in that light. |
13986 | Plato found antinomies in ideas, Kant in space and time, and Bradley in relations [Plato, by Ryle] |
Full Idea: Plato (in 'Parmenides') shows that the theory that 'Eide' are substances, and Kant that space and time are substances, and Bradley that relations are substances, all lead to aninomies. | |
From: report of Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE]) by Gilbert Ryle - Are there propositions? 'Objections' |
14150 | Plato's 'Parmenides' is perhaps the best collection of antinomies ever made [Russell on Plato] |
Full Idea: Plato's 'Parmenides' is perhaps the best collection of antinomies ever made. | |
From: comment on Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE]) by Bertrand Russell - The Principles of Mathematics §337 |
16150 | One is, so numbers exist, so endless numbers exist, and each one must partake of being [Plato] |
Full Idea: If one is, there must also necessarily be number - Necessarily - But if there is number, there would be many, and an unlimited multitude of beings. ..So if all partakes of being, each part of number would also partake of it. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 144a) | |
A reaction: This seems to commit to numbers having being, then to too many numbers, and hence to too much being - but without backing down and wondering whether numbers had being after all. Aristotle disagreed. |
229 | The one was and is and will be and was becoming and is becoming and will become [Plato] |
Full Idea: The one was and is and will be and was becoming and is becoming and will become. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 155d) | |
A reaction: This seems to be rhetorical, rather a precise theory, given that the One is said to be eternal and unchanging. The One is not just what we call 'reality'. |
21821 | Plato's Parmenides has a three-part theory, of Primal One, a One-Many, and a One-and-Many [Plato, by Plotinus] |
Full Idea: The Platonic Parmenides is more exact [than Parmenides himself]; the distinction is made between the Primal One, a strictly pure Unity, and a secondary One which is a One-Many, and a third which is a One-and-Many. | |
From: report of Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE]) by Plotinus - The Enneads 5.1.08 | |
A reaction: Plotinus approves of this three-part theory. Parmenides has the problem that the highest Being contains no movement. By placing the One outside Being you can give it powers which an existent thing cannot have. Cf the concept of God. |
221 | Absolute ideas, such as the Good and the Beautiful, cannot be known by us [Plato] |
Full Idea: The absolute good and the beautiful and all which we conceive to be absolute ideas are unknown to us. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 134c) | |
A reaction: These seems to thoroughly pre-empt Plato's Theory of Forms a century before he created it. Which shows (as Simone Weil says) that Plato was just part of a long tradition. |
14308 | We can bring dispositions into existence, as in creating an identifier [Dennett, by Mumford] |
Full Idea: We can bring a real disposition into existence, as in Dennett's case of a piece of cardboard torn in half, so that two strangers can infallibly identify one another. | |
From: report of Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], p.376) by Stephen Mumford - Dispositions 03.7 n37 | |
A reaction: Presumably human artefacts in general qualify as sets of dispositions which we have created. |
227 | You must always mean the same thing when you utter the same name [Plato] |
Full Idea: You must always mean the same thing when you utter the same name. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 147d) |
223 | If you deny that each thing always stays the same, you destroy the possibility of discussion [Plato] |
Full Idea: If a person denies that the idea of each thing is always the same, he will utterly destroy the power of carrying on discussion. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 135c) |
210 | It would be absurd to think there were abstract Forms for vile things like hair, mud and dirt [Plato] |
Full Idea: Are there abstract ideas for such things as hair, mud and dirt, which are particularly vile and worthless? That would be quite absurd. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 130d) |
219 | If absolute ideas existed in us, they would cease to be absolute [Plato] |
Full Idea: None of the absolute ideas exists in us, because then it would no longer be absolute. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 133c) |
228 | Greatness and smallness must exist, to be opposed to one another, and come into being in things [Plato] |
Full Idea: These two ideas, greatness and smallness, exist, do they not? For if they did not exist, they could not be opposites of one another, and could not come into being in things. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 149e) |
211 | If admirable things have Forms, maybe everything else does as well [Plato] |
Full Idea: It is troubling that if admirable things have abstract ideas, then perhaps everything else must have ideas as well. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 130d) |
220 | The concept of a master includes the concept of a slave [Plato] |
Full Idea: Mastership in the abstract is mastership of slavery in the abstract. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 133e) |
16151 | Plato moves from Forms to a theory of genera and principles in his later work [Plato, by Frede,M] |
Full Idea: It seems to me that Plato in the later dialogues, beginning with the second half of 'Parmenides', wants to substitute a theory of genera and theory of principles that constitute these genera for the earlier theory of forms. | |
From: report of Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE]) by Michael Frede - Title, Unity, Authenticity of the 'Categories' V | |
A reaction: My theory is that the later Plato came under the influence of the brilliant young Aristotle, and this idea is a symptom of it. The theory of 'principles' sounds like hylomorphism to me. |
216 | If things are made alike by participating in something, that thing will be the absolute idea [Plato] |
Full Idea: That by participation in which like things are made like, will be the absolute idea, will it not? | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 132e) |
218 | Participation is not by means of similarity, so we are looking for some other method of participation [Plato] |
Full Idea: Participation is not by means of likeness, so we must seek some other method of participation. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 133a) |
212 | The whole idea of each Form must be found in each thing which participates in it [Plato] |
Full Idea: The whole idea of each form (of beauty, justice etc) must be found in each thing which participates in it. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 131a) |
213 | Each idea is in all its participants at once, just as daytime is a unity but in many separate places at once [Plato] |
Full Idea: Just as day is in many places at once, but not separated from itself, so each idea might be in all its participants at once. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 131b) |
215 | If things partake of ideas, this implies either that everything thinks, or that everything actually is thought [Plato] |
Full Idea: If all things partake of ideas, must either everything be made of thoughts and everything thinks, or everything is thought, and so can't think? | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 132c) |
214 | If absolute greatness and great things are seen as the same, another thing appears which makes them seem great [Plato] |
Full Idea: If you regard the absolute great and the many great things in the same way, will not another appear beyond, by which all these must appear to be great? | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 132a) |
217 | Nothing can be like an absolute idea, because a third idea intervenes to make them alike (leading to a regress) [Plato] |
Full Idea: It is impossible for anything to be like an absolute idea, because a third idea will appear to make them alike, and if that is like anything, it will lead to another idea, and so on. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 133a) |
15851 | Parts must belong to a created thing with a distinct form [Plato] |
Full Idea: The part would not be the part of many things or all, but of some one character ['ideas'] and of some one thing, which we call a 'whole', since it has come to be one complete [perfected] thing composed [created] of all. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 157d) | |
A reaction: A serious shot by Plato at what identity is. Harte quotes it (125) and shows that 'character' is Gk 'idea', and 'composed' will translate as 'created'. 'Form' links this Platonic passage to Aristotle's hylomorphism. |
15846 | In Parmenides, if composition is identity, a whole is nothing more than its parts [Plato, by Harte,V] |
Full Idea: At the heart of the 'Parmenides' puzzles about composition is the thesis that composition is identity. Considered thus, a whole adds nothing to an ontology that already includes its parts | |
From: report of Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE]) by Verity Harte - Plato on Parts and Wholes 2.5 | |
A reaction: There has to be more to a unified identity that mere proximity of the parts. When do parts come together, and when do they actually 'compose' something? |
15849 | Plato says only a one has parts, and a many does not [Plato, by Harte,V] |
Full Idea: In 'Parmenides' it is argued that a part cannot be part of a many, but must be part of something one. | |
From: report of Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 157c) by Verity Harte - Plato on Parts and Wholes 3.2 | |
A reaction: This looks like the right way to go with the term 'part'. We presuppose a unity before we even talk of its parts, so we can't get into contradictions and paradoxes about their relationships. |
15850 | Anything which has parts must be one thing, and parts are of a one, not of a many [Plato] |
Full Idea: The whole of which the parts are parts must be one thing composed of many; for each of the parts must be part, not of a many, but of a whole. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 157c) | |
A reaction: This is a key move of metaphysics, and we should hang on to it. The other way madness lies. |
13259 | It seems that the One must be composed of parts, which contradicts its being one [Plato] |
Full Idea: The One must be composed of parts, both being a whole and having parts. So on both grounds the One would thus be many and not one. But it must be not many, but one. So if the One will be one, it will neither be a whole, nor have parts. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 137c09), quoted by Kathrin Koslicki - The Structure of Objects 5.2 | |
A reaction: This is the starting point for Plato's metaphysical discussion of objects. It seems to begin a line of thought which is completed by Aristotle, surmising that only an essential structure can bestow identity on a bunch of parts. |
7384 | Words are fixed by being attached to similarity clusters, without mention of 'essences' [Dennett] |
Full Idea: We don't need 'essences' or 'criteria' to keep the meaning of our word from sliding all over the place; our words will stay put, quite firmly attached as if by gravity to the nearest similarity cluster. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.2) | |
A reaction: Plausible, but essentialism (which may have been rejuventated by a modern theory of reference in language) is not about language. It is offering an explanation of why there are 'similarity clusters. Organisms are too complex to have pure essences. |
15847 | Two things relate either as same or different, or part of a whole, or the whole of the part [Plato] |
Full Idea: Everything is surely related to everything as follows: either it is the same or different; or, if it is not the same or different, it would be related as part to whole or as whole to part. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 146b) | |
A reaction: This strikes me as a really helpful first step in trying to analyse the nature of identity. Two things are either two or (actually) one, or related mereologically. |
7374 | Light wavelengths entering the eye are only indirectly related to object colours [Dennett] |
Full Idea: The wavelengths of the light entering the eye are only indirectly related to the colours we see objects to be. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 12.2) | |
A reaction: This is obviously bad news for naïve realism, but I also take it as good support for the primary/secondary distinction. I just can't make sense of anyone claiming that colour exists anywhere else except in the brain. |
7369 | Brains are essentially anticipation machines [Dennett] |
Full Idea: All brains are, in essence, anticipation machines. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 7.2) | |
A reaction: This would necessarily, I take it, make them induction machines. So brains will only evolve in a world where induction is possible, which is one where there a lot of immediately apprehensible regularities. |
7393 | We can't draw a clear line between conscious and unconscious [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Even in our own case, we cannot draw the line separating our conscious mental states from our unconscious mental states. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 14.2) | |
A reaction: This strikes me as being a simple and self-evident truth, which anyone working on the brain takes for granted, but an awful lot of philosophers (stuck somewhere in the seventeenth century) can't seem to grasp. |
7367 | Perhaps the brain doesn't 'fill in' gaps in consciousness if no one is looking. [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Perhaps the brain doesn't actually have to go to the trouble of "filling in" anything with "construction" - for no one is looking. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 5.4) | |
A reaction: This a very nice point, because claims that the mind fills in in various psychological visual tests always has the presupposition of a person (or homunculus?) which is overseeing the visual experiences. |
7394 | Conscious events can only be explained in terms of unconscious events [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Only a theory that explained conscious events in terms of unconscious events could explain consciousness at all. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 14.4) | |
A reaction: This sounds undeniable, so it seems to force a choice between reductive physicalism and mysterianism. Personally I think there must be an explanation in terms of non-conscious events, even if humans are too thick to understand it. |
7391 | We can know a lot of what it is like to be a bat, and nothing important is unknown [Dennett] |
Full Idea: There is at least a lot that we can know about what it is like to be a bat, and Nagel has not given us a reason to believe there is anything interesting or theoretically important that is inaccessible to us. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 14.2) | |
A reaction: I agree. If you really wanted to identify with the phenomenology of bathood, you could spend a lot of time in underground caves whistling with your torch turned off. I can't, of course, be a bat, but then I can't be my self of yesterday. |
7387 | "Qualia" can be replaced by complex dispositional brain states [Dennett] |
Full Idea: "Qualia" can be replaced by complex dispositional states of the brain. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 14.1) | |
A reaction: 'Dispositional' reveals Dennett's behaviourist roots (he was a pupil of Ryle). Fodor is right that physicalism cannot just hide behind the word "complexity". That said, the combination of complexity and speed might add up to physical 'qualia'. |
7376 | We can't assume that dispositions will remain normal when qualia have been inverted [Dennett] |
Full Idea: The goal of the experiment was to describe a case in which it was obvious that the qualia would be inverted while the reactive dispositions would be normalized. But the assumption that one could just tell is question-begging. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 12.4) | |
A reaction: It certainly seems simple and plausible that if we inverted our experience of traffic light colours, no difference in driver behaviour would be seen. However, my example, of a conversation in a gallery of abstract art, seems more problematic. |
7372 | In peripheral vision we see objects without their details, so blindsight is not that special [Dennett] |
Full Idea: If a playing card is held in peripheral vision, we can see the card without being able to identify its colours or its shapes. That's normal sight, not blindsight, so we should be reluctant on those grounds to deny visual experience to blindsight subjects. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 11.4) | |
A reaction: This is an important point in Dennett's war against the traditional all-or-nothing view of mental events. Nevertheless, blindsight subjects deny all mental experience, while picking up information, and peripheral vision never seems like that. |
7373 | Blindsight subjects glean very paltry information [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Discussions of blindsight have tended to ignore just how paltry the information is that blindsight subjects glean from their blind fields. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 11.4) | |
A reaction: This is a bit unfair, because blindsight has mainly pointed to interesting speculations (e.g. Idea 2953). Nevertheless, if blindsight with very high information content is actually totally impossible, the speculations ought to be curtailed. |
7385 | People accept blurred boundaries in many things, but insist self is All or Nothing [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Many people are comfortable taking the pragmatic approach to night/day, living/nonliving and mammal/premammal, but get anxious about the same attitude to having a self and not having a self. It must be All or Nothing, and One to a Customer. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.2) | |
A reaction: Personally I think I believe in the existence of the self, but I also agree with Dennett. I greatly admire his campaign against All or Nothing thinking, which is a relic from an earlier age. A partial self could result from infancy or brain damage. |
7383 | The psychological self is an abstraction, not a thing in the brain [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Like the biological self, the psychological or narrative self is an abstraction, not a thing in the brain. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.1) | |
A reaction: Does Dennett have empirical evidence for this claim? It seems to me perfectly possible that there is a real thing called the 'self', and it is the central controller of the brain (involving propriotreptic awareness, understanding, and will). |
7386 | Selves are not soul-pearls, but artefacts of social processes [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Selves are not independently existing soul-pearls, but artefacts of the social processes that create us, and, like other such artefacts, subject to sudden shifts in status. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.2) | |
A reaction: "Soul-pearls" is a nice phrase for the Cartesian view, but there can something between soul-pearls and social constructs. Personally I think the self is a development of the propriotreptic (body) awareness that even the smallest animals must possess. |
7381 | We tell stories about ourselves, to protect, control and define who we are [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Our fundamental tactic of self-protection, self-control and self-definition is telling stories, and more particularly concocting and controlling the story we tell others - and ourselves - about who we are. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.1) | |
A reaction: This seems to suggest that there is someone who wants to protect themselves, and who wants to tell the stories, and does tell the stories. No one can deny the existence of this autobiographical element in our own identity. |
7382 | We spin narratives about ourselves, and the audience posits a centre of gravity for them [Dennett] |
Full Idea: The effect of our string of personal narratives is to encourage the audience to (try to) posit a unified agent whose words they are, about whom they are: in short, to posit a centre of narrative gravity. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.1) | |
A reaction: What would be the evolutionary advantage of getting the audience to posit a non-existent self, instead of a complex brain? It might be simpler than that, since we say of a bird "it wants to do x". What is "it"? Some simple thing, like a will. |
7370 | The brain is controlled by shifting coalitions, guided by good purposeful habits [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Who's in charge of the brain? First one coalition and then another, shifting in ways that are not chaotic thanks to good meta-habits that tend to entrain coherent, purposeful sequences rather than an interminable helter-skelter power grab. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 8.1) | |
A reaction: This is probably the best anti-ego account available. Dennett offers our sense of self as a fictional autobiography, but the sense of a single real controller is very powerful. If I jump at a noise, I feel that 'I' have lost control of myself. |
7379 | If an epiphenomenon has no physical effects, it has to be undetectable [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Psychologists mean a by-product by an 'epiphenomenon', ...but the philosophical meaning is too strong: it yields a concept of no utility whatsoever. Since x has no physical effects (according to the definition), no instrument can detect it. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 12.5) | |
A reaction: Well said! This has always been my half-formulated intuition about the claim that the mind (or anything) might be totally epiphenomenal. All a thing such as the reflection on a lake can be is irrelevant to the functioning of that specified system. |
7365 | Dualism wallows in mystery, and to accept it is to give up [Dennett] |
Full Idea: Given the way dualism wallows in mystery, accepting dualism is giving up. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 2.4) | |
A reaction: Some things, of course, might be inherently mysterious to us, and we might as well give up. The big dualist mystery is the explanation of how such different substances can interact. How do two physical substances manage to interact? |
7371 | All functionalism is 'homuncular', of one grain size or another [Dennett] |
Full Idea: All varieties of functionalism can be viewed as 'homuncular' functionalism of one grain size or another. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 9.2) | |
A reaction: This seems right, as any huge and complex mechanism (like a moon rocket) will be made up of some main systems, then sub-systems, then sub-sub-sub.... This assumes that there are one or two overarching purposes, which there are in people. |
7366 | It is arbitrary to say which moment of brain processing is conscious [Dennett] |
Full Idea: If one wants to settle on some moment of processing in the brain as the moment of consciousness, this has to be arbitrary. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 5.3) | |
A reaction: Seems eliminativist, as it implies that all that is really going on is 'processing'. But there are two senses of 'arbitrary' - that calling it consciousness is arbitrary (wrong), or thinking that mind doesn't move abruptly into consciousness (right). |
7380 | Visual experience is composed of neural activity, which we find pleasing [Dennett] |
Full Idea: All visual experience is composed of activities of neural circuits whose very activity is innately pleasing to us. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 12.6) | |
A reaction: This is the nearest I can find to Dennett saying something eliminativist. It seems to beg the question of who 'us' refers to, and what is being pleased, and how it is 'pleased' by these neural circuits. The Hard Question? |
222 | Only a great person can understand the essence of things, and an even greater person can teach it [Plato] |
Full Idea: Only a man of very great natural gifts will be able to understand that everything has a class and absolute essence, and an even more wonderful man can teach this. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 135a) |
7368 | Originally there were no reasons, purposes or functions; since there were no interests, there were only causes [Dennett] |
Full Idea: In the beginning there were no reasons; there were only causes. Nothing had a purpose, nothing had so much as a function; there was no teleology in the world at all. The explanation is simple: there was nothing that had interests. | |
From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 7.2) | |
A reaction: It seems reasonable to talk of functions even if the fledgling 'interests' are unconscious, as in a leaf. Is a process leading to an end an 'interest'? What are the 'interests' of a person who is about to commit suicide? |
225 | The unlimited has no shape and is endless [Plato] |
Full Idea: The unlimited partakes neither of the round nor of the straight, because it has no ends nor edges. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 137e) |
233 | Some things do not partake of the One [Plato] |
Full Idea: The others cannot partake of the one in any way; they can neither partake of it nor of the whole. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 159d) | |
A reaction: Compare Idea 231 |
2062 | The only movement possible for the One is in space or in alteration [Plato] |
Full Idea: If the One moves it either moves spatially or it is altered, since these are the only motions. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 138b) |
231 | Everything partakes of the One in some way [Plato] |
Full Idea: The others are not altogether deprived of the one, for they partake of it in some way. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 157c) | |
A reaction: Compare Idea 233. |
234 | We couldn't discuss the non-existence of the One without knowledge of it [Plato] |
Full Idea: There must be knowledge of the one, or else not even the meaning of the words 'if the one does not exist' would be known. | |
From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 160d) |