18702
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Names, descriptions and predicates refer to things; without that, language and thought are baffling [Davidson]
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Full Idea:
The simple thesis that names and descriptions often refer to things, and that predicates often have an extension in the world of things, is obvious, and essential to the most elementary appreciation of both language and the thoughts we express.
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From:
Donald Davidson (Replies to Critics [1998], p.323)
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A reaction:
In 1983 Davidson had been a rare modern champion of the coherence theory of truth, but this is his clearest later renunciation of that view (and quite right too).
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7076
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Mill wondered if he would be happy if all his aims were realised, and answered no [Mill, by Critchley]
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Full Idea:
Mill, in his crisis of 1827, asked himself whether he would be happy if all his objects in life were realised, and had to answer that he would not.
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From:
report of John Stuart Mill (Autobiography [1870]) by Simon Critchley - Continental Philosophy - V. Short Intro Ch.3
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A reaction:
The reply is either that happiness is in the striving, or that his aims in life were wrong, or that happiness is impossible. It seems to contradict Kant's definition (Idea 1452).
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