14 ideas
23295 | Truth cannot be reduced to anything simpler [Davidson] |
Full Idea: We cannot hope to underpin the concept of truth with something more transparent or easier to grasp. | |
From: Donald Davidson (The Folly of Trying to Define Truth [1999], p.21) | |
A reaction: I suppose precise accounts of correspondence or coherence are offered as replacements for truth, but neither of those ever seem to be possible. I agree with accepting truth as a primitive. |
23298 | Neither Aristotle nor Tarski introduce the facts needed for a correspondence theory [Davidson] |
Full Idea: Neither Aristotle's formula nor Tarski's truth definitions are sympathetic to the correspondence theory, because they don't introduce entities like facts or states of affairs for sentences to correspond. | |
From: Donald Davidson (The Folly of Trying to Define Truth [1999], p.25) | |
A reaction: This seems convincing, although it is often claimed that both theories offer a sort of correspondence. |
23297 | The language to define truth needs a finite vocabulary, to make the definition finite [Davidson] |
Full Idea: If the definition of the truth predicate is to be finite (Tarski insisted on this), the definition must take advantage of the fact that sentences, though potentially infinite in number, are constructed from a finite vocabulary. | |
From: Donald Davidson (The Folly of Trying to Define Truth [1999], p.23) | |
A reaction: Not sure whether this is in the object language or the meta-language, though I guess the former. |
23296 | We can elucidate indefinable truth, but showing its relation to other concepts [Davidson] |
Full Idea: We can still say revealing things about truth, by relating it to other concepts like belief, desire, cause and action. | |
From: Donald Davidson (The Folly of Trying to Define Truth [1999], p.21) | |
A reaction: The trickiest concept to link it to is meaning. I think Davidson's view points to the Axiomatic account of truth, which flourished soon after Davidson wrote this. We can give rules for the correct use of 'true'. |
9117 | The smallest heap has four objects: three on the bottom, one on the top [Hart,WD, by Sorensen] |
Full Idea: Hart argues that the smallest heap consists of four objects: three on the bottom, one on the top. | |
From: report of William D. Hart (Hat-Tricks and Heaps [1992]) by Roy Sorensen - Vagueness and Contradiction Intro | |
A reaction: If the objects were rough bolders, you could get away with two on the bottom. He's wrong. No one would accept as a 'heap' four minute grains barely visible to the naked eye. No one would describe such a group of items in a supermarket as a heap. |
23294 | It is common to doubt truth when discussing it, but totally accept it when discussing knowledge [Davidson] |
Full Idea: You are following Plato's lead if you worry about the concept of truth when it is the focus of your attention, but you pretend you understand it when trying to cope with knowledge (or belief, memory, perception etc.). | |
From: Donald Davidson (The Folly of Trying to Define Truth [1999], p.20) | |
A reaction: Nice to find someone pointing out this absurdity. He says Hume does the same with doubts about the external world, which he ignores when discussing other minds. Belief is holding true; only truths are actually remembered…. |
7590 | Consequentialism emphasises value rather than obligation in morality [Scruton] |
Full Idea: According to consequentialism, the fundamental concept of morality is not obligation (deontological ethics) but value (axiological ethics). | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'consequentialism') | |
A reaction: These two views could come dramatically apart, in wartime, or in big ecological crises, or in a family breakup, or in religious disputes. Having identified the pair so clearly, why can we not aim for a civilised (virtuous) balance between the two? |
7589 | Altruism is either emotional (where your interests are mine) or moral (where they are reasons for me) [Scruton] |
Full Idea: Two distinct motives go by the name of altruism: the emotions of liking, love and friendship, making another's interest automatically mine; and the moral motive of respect or considerateness, where another's interests become reasons for me, but not mine. | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'altruism') | |
A reaction: The second one has a strongly Kantian flavour, with its notion of impersonal duty. Virtue theorists will aspire to achieve the first state rather than the second, because good actions are then actively desired, and give pleasure to the doer. |
7595 | The idea of a right seems fairly basic; justice may be the disposition to accord rights to people [Scruton] |
Full Idea: The idea of a right seems to be as basic as any other; we might even define justice in terms of it, as the disposition to accord to every person his rights. | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'rights') | |
A reaction: I am inclined to think that a set of fairly pure values (such as equality, kindness, sympathy, respect) must be in place before the idea of a right would occur to anyone. Aristotle has a powerful moral sense, but rights for slaves don't cross his mind. |
7588 | Allegiance is fundamental to the conservative view of society [Scruton] |
Full Idea: Conservatives have made the concept of allegiance, conceived as a power, fundamental to their description of the experience of society | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'allegiance') | |
A reaction: This provokes the famous slogan of "My country - right or wrong!" However, the issue here is not going to be decided by a consequentialist analysis, but by a view a of human nature. I think I would want to carefully prise allegiance apart from loyalty. |
7594 | Democrats are committed to a belief and to its opposite, if the majority prefer the latter [Scruton] |
Full Idea: The paradox of democracy (emphasised by Rousseau) is that I am compelled by my belief in democracy to embrace conflicting - perhaps even contradictory - opinions. If I believe A, and the majority vote for B, I am committed to enacting them both. | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'paradox of democracy') | |
A reaction: The paradox would have to be resolved by qualifying what exactly one is committed to by being a democrat. I would say I am committed to the right of my opponents to enact a policy with which I disagree. |
7593 | Liberals focus on universal human freedom, natural rights, and tolerance [Scruton, by PG] |
Full Idea: Liberalism believes (roughly) in the supremacy of the individual, who has freedom and natural rights; it focuses on human, not divine affairs; it claims rights and duties are universal; and it advocates tolerance in religion and morality. | |
From: report of Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'liberalism') by PG - Db (ideas) | |
A reaction: I find it hard to disagree with these principles, but the upshot in practice is often an excessive commitment to freedom and tolerance, because people fail to realise the subtle long-term erosions of society that can result. |
7592 | For positivists law is a matter of form, for naturalists it is a matter of content [Scruton] |
Full Idea: For the positivist, law is law by virtue of its form; for the naturalist, by virtue of its content. | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'law') | |
A reaction: Clearly a perverse and 'unnatural' social rule (backed by government and implied force) is a 'law' in some sense of the word. It is hard to see how you could gain social consensus for a law if it didn't appear in some way to be 'natural justice'. |
7587 | The issue of abortion seems insoluble, because there is nothing with which to compare it [Scruton] |
Full Idea: The issue of abortion is intractable, partly because of the absence of any other case to which it can be assimilated. | |
From: Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'abortion') | |
A reaction: This is the legalistic approach to the problem, which always looks for precedents and comparisons. All problems must hav solutions, though (mustn't they?). The problem, though, is not the value of the foetus, but the unique form of 'ownership'. |