Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'I.7 Our deeds are judged by intention' and 'A Note on the entscheidungsproblem'

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4 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 7. Decidability
18758 Validity is provable, but invalidity isn't, because the model is infinite [Church, by McGee]
     Full Idea: Church showed that logic has a proof procedure, but no decision procedure. If an argument is invalid, there is a model with true premises and false conclusion, but the model will typically be infinite, so there is no way to display it concretely.
     From: report of Alonzo Church (A Note on the entscheidungsproblem [1936]) by Vann McGee - Logical Consequence 5
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / g. Moral responsibility
7496 Rules and duties are based on the will, as that is all we control [Montaigne]
     Full Idea: Since actions and performances are not wholly in our power and since nothing is really in our power but our will - it is on the will that all the rules and duties of Man are based and established.
     From: Michel de Montaigne (I.7 Our deeds are judged by intention [1580], p.0028)
     A reaction: This is almost Kant's claim that the only truly good thing is a good will (e.g. Idea 3711). Aristotle disagrees, because a virtuous person should also have good desires. We may will to have good desires, but virtue requires actually having them.
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / b. Education principles
13304 Learned men gain more in one day than others do in a lifetime [Posidonius]
     Full Idea: In a single day there lies open to men of learning more than there ever does to the unenlightened in the longest of lifetimes.
     From: Posidonius (fragments/reports [c.95 BCE]), quoted by Seneca the Younger - Letters from a Stoic 078
     A reaction: These remarks endorsing the infinite superiority of the educated to the uneducated seem to have been popular in late antiquity. It tends to be the religions which discourage great learning, especially in their emphasis on a single book.
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / d. Time as measure
20820 Time is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed [Posidonius, by Stobaeus]
     Full Idea: Posidonius defined time thus: it is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed and slowness.
     From: report of Posidonius (fragments/reports [c.95 BCE]) by John Stobaeus - Anthology 1.08.42
     A reaction: Hm. Can we define motion or speed without alluding to time? Looks like we have to define them as a conjoined pair, which means we cannot fully understand either of them.