Combining Texts

All the ideas for '67: Platonic Questions', 'Being You' and 'Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed)'

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35 ideas

4. Formal Logic / E. Nonclassical Logics / 6. Free Logic
Free logic is one of the few first-order non-classical logics [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: Free logic is an unusual example of a non-classical logic which is first-order.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], Pref)
4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 2. Mechanics of Set Theory / a. Symbols of ST
X1 x X2 x X3... x Xn indicates the 'cartesian product' of those sets [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: X1 x X2 x X3... x Xn indicates the 'cartesian product' of those sets, the set of all the n-tuples with its first member in X1, its second in X2, and so on.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.0)
<a,b&62; is a set whose members occur in the order shown [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: <a,b> is a set whose members occur in the order shown; <x1,x2,x3, ..xn> is an 'n-tuple' ordered set.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.10)
a ∈ X says a is an object in set X; a ∉ X says a is not in X [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: a ∈ X means that a is a member of the set X, that is, a is one of the objects in X. a ∉ X indicates that a is not in X.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.2)
{x; A(x)} is a set of objects satisfying the condition A(x) [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: {x; A(x)} indicates a set of objects which satisfy the condition A(x).
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.2)
{a1, a2, ...an} indicates that a set comprising just those objects [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: {a1, a2, ...an} indicates that the set comprises of just those objects.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.2)
Φ indicates the empty set, which has no members [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: Φ indicates the empty set, which has no members
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.4)
{a} is the 'singleton' set of a (not the object a itself) [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: {a} is the 'singleton' set of a, not to be confused with the object a itself.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.4)
X⊂Y means set X is a 'proper subset' of set Y [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: X⊂Y means set X is a 'proper subset' of set Y (if and only if all of its members are members of Y, but some things in Y are not in X)
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.6)
X⊆Y means set X is a 'subset' of set Y [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: X⊆Y means set X is a 'subset' of set Y (if and only if all of its members are members of Y).
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.6)
X = Y means the set X equals the set Y [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: X = Y means the set X equals the set Y, which means they have the same members (i.e. X⊆Y and Y⊆X).
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.6)
X ∩ Y indicates the 'intersection' of sets X and Y, the objects which are in both sets [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: X ∩ Y indicates the 'intersection' of sets X and Y, which is a set containing just those things that are in both X and Y.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.8)
X∪Y indicates the 'union' of all the things in sets X and Y [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: X ∪ Y indicates the 'union' of sets X and Y, which is a set containing just those things that are in X or Y (or both).
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.8)
Y - X is the 'relative complement' of X with respect to Y; the things in Y that are not in X [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: Y - X indicates the 'relative complement' of X with respect to Y, that is, all the things in Y that are not in X.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.8)
4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 2. Mechanics of Set Theory / b. Terminology of ST
The 'relative complement' is things in the second set not in the first [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: The 'relative complement' of one set with respect to another is the things in the second set that aren't in the first.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.8)
The 'intersection' of two sets is a set of the things that are in both sets [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: The 'intersection' of two sets is a set containing the things that are in both sets.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.8)
The 'union' of two sets is a set containing all the things in either of the sets [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: The 'union' of two sets is a set containing all the things in either of the sets
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.8)
The 'induction clause' says complex formulas retain the properties of their basic formulas [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: The 'induction clause' says that whenever one constructs more complex formulas out of formulas that have the property P, the resulting formulas will also have that property.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.2)
A 'singleton' is a set with only one member [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: A 'singleton' is a set with only one member.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.4)
A 'member' of a set is one of the objects in the set [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: A 'member' of a set is one of the objects in the set.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.2)
An 'ordered pair' (or ordered n-tuple) is a set with its members in a particular order [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: An 'ordered pair' (or ordered n-tuple) is a set with its members in a particular order.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.10)
A 'cartesian product' of sets is the set of all the n-tuples with one member in each of the sets [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: A 'cartesian product' of sets is the set of all the n-tuples with one member in each of the sets.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.10)
A 'set' is a collection of objects [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: A 'set' is a collection of objects.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.2)
The 'empty set' or 'null set' has no members [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: The 'empty set' or 'null set' is a set with no members.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.4)
A set is a 'subset' of another set if all of its members are in that set [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: A set is a 'subset' of another set if all of its members are in that set.
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.6)
A 'proper subset' is smaller than the containing set [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: A set is a 'proper subset' of another set if some things in the large set are not in the smaller set
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.6)
4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 2. Mechanics of Set Theory / c. Basic theorems of ST
The empty set Φ is a subset of every set (including itself) [Priest,G]
     Full Idea: The empty set Φ is a subset of every set (including itself).
     From: Graham Priest (Intro to Non-Classical Logic (1st ed) [2001], 0.1.6)
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche
When the soul is intelligent and harmonious, it is part of god and derives from god [Plutarch]
     Full Idea: The soul, when it has partaken of intelligence and reason and concord, is not merely a work but also a part of god and has come to be not by his agency but both from him as source and out of his substance.
     From: Plutarch (67: Platonic Questions [c.85], II.1001)
     A reaction: A most intriguing shift of view from earlier concepts of the psuché. How did this come about? This man is a pagan. The history is in the evolution of Platonism. See 'The Middle Platonists' by John Dillon. Davidson is also very impressed by reason.
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 8. Brain
The cerbellum has a huge number of neurons, but little involvement in consciousness [Seth]
     Full Idea: The cerebellum [at the back] has about four times as many neurons as the rest of the brain put together, but seems barely involved in consciousness.
     From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.2)
     A reaction: I wonder if it also has four times as many connections?
Single neurons can carry out complex functions [Seth]
     Full Idea: It is increasingly apparent that even single neurons are capable of carrying out highly complex functions all by themselves.
     From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.1 n)
     A reaction: Bang goes the simple connectionist account of consciousness.
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / e. Cause of consciousness
Maybe a system is conscious if the whole generates more information than its parts [Seth]
     Full Idea: The main claim of Tononi's 'integrated information theory' is that a system is conscious to the extent that its whole generates more information than its parts.
     From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.3)
     A reaction: Seth seems to present this as an 'interesting' proposal. I find it unlikely that consciousness could be explain in terms of information, or that a machine constructed on this principle would thus become conscious. (Databases pass this test).
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
The self is embodied, perspectival, volitional, narrative and social [Seth, by PG]
     Full Idea: The elements of a self are 1) embodied - related directly to the body, 2) perspectival - having a viewpoint, 3) volitional - being an agent, 4) narrative - aware of past and future, and 5) social - as others perceive me.
     From: report of Anil Seth (Being You [2021], III.8) by PG - Db (ideas)
     A reaction: [summarised] Seth says there are distinctive emotions associated with each of these aspects of the self. This list is very helpful, as a discouragement for anyone who wants to pick one of these as the sole true nature of the self.
18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 6. Artificial Thought / a. Artificial Intelligence
Modern AI is mostly machine-based pattern recognition [Seth]
     Full Idea: Much of today's AI is best described as sophisticated machine-based pattern recognition.
     From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], IV.13)
     A reaction: Personally I wouldn't want to underestimate the extent to which human intelligence is also pattern recognition (across time as well as in space).
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
Volition is felt as doing what you want, with possible alternatives, and a source from within [Seth]
     Full Idea: The experience of volition is defined by 1) the feeling that I am doing what I want to do, 2) that I could have done otherwise, and 3) that voluntary actions seem to come from within.
     From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], III.11)
     A reaction: Note that these can all be cited without reference to their feeling 'free'.
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / d. Biological ethics
Human exceptionalism plagues biology, and most other human thinking [Seth]
     Full Idea: Human exceptionalism has repeatedly plagued biology, and has darkened the history of human thought everywhere.
     From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.2)
     A reaction: I increasingly agree with this, as much in philosophy as in biology. We really need to get used to our place in evolution.