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7485
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For Pythagoreans 'one' is not a number, but the foundation of numbers [Pythagoras, by Watson]
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Full Idea:
For Pythagoreans, one, 1, is not a true number but the 'essence' of number, out of which the number system emerges.
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From:
report of Pythagoras (reports [c.530 BCE], Ch.8) by Peter Watson - Ideas Ch.8
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A reaction:
I think this is right! Counting and numbers only arise once the concept of individuality and identity have arisen. Counting to one is no more than observing the law of identity. 'Two' is the big adventure.
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6019
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If someone squashed a horse to make a dog, something new would now exist [Mnesarchus]
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Full Idea:
If, for the sake of argument, someone were to mould a horse, squash it, then make a dog, it would be reasonable for us on seeing this to say that this previously did not exist but now does exist.
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From:
Mnesarchus (fragments/reports [c.120 BCE]), quoted by John Stobaeus - Anthology 179.11
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A reaction:
Locke would say it is new, because the substance is the same, but a new life now exists. A sword could cease to exist and become a new ploughshare, I would think. Apply this to the Ship of Theseus. Is form more important than substance?
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7091
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The argument from analogy is not a strong inference, since the other being might be an actor or a robot [Grayling]
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Full Idea:
The argument from analogy is a weak one, because it does not logically guarantee the inference I draw to the other's inner states, for he might be dissimulating or acting, or may even be a cleverly contrived robot which feels nothing.
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From:
A.C. Grayling (Wittgenstein [1988], Ch.3)
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A reaction:
This gives the impression that for an argument to be strong it must logically guarantee its inference. It strikes me that analogy is a good reason for believing in other minds, but that is because I am looking for the best explanation, not logical proof.
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3053
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Pythagoras taught that virtue is harmony, and health, and universal good, and God [Pythagoras, by Diog. Laertius]
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Full Idea:
Pythagoras taught that virtue is harmony, and health, and universal good, and God.
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From:
report of Pythagoras (reports [c.530 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 08.1.19
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A reaction:
I like the link with health, because I consider that a bridge over the supposed fact-value gap. Very Pythagorean to think that virtue is harmony. Plato liked that thought.
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5244
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For Pythagoreans, justice is simply treating all people the same [Pythagoras, by Aristotle]
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Full Idea:
Some even think that what is just is simple reciprocity, as the Pythagoreans maintained, because they defined justice simply as having done to one what one has done to another.
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From:
report of Pythagoras (reports [c.530 BCE], 28) by Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics 1132b22
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A reaction:
One wonders what Pythagoreans made of slavery. Aristotle argues that officials, for example, have superior rights. The Pythagorean idea makes fairness the central aspect of justice, and that must at least be partly right.
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