Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Necessary Existents', 'fragments/reports' and 'The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude'

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4 ideas

15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / d. Location of mind

5987	Alcmaeon was the first to say the brain is central to thinking [Alcmaeon, by Staden, von]
	Full Idea: Alcmaeon apparently was the first Greek to assign central cognitive and biological functions to the brain.
	From: report of Alcmaeon (fragments/reports [c.490 BCE]) by Heinrich von Staden - Alcmaeon
	A reaction: The name of Alcmaeon should be remembered with honour. This was 200 years before Aristotle, who still hadn't worked it out. I presume Alcmaeon inferred the truth from head injuries, which is overwhelming evidence, if you notice it.

19. Language / D. Propositions / 3. Concrete Propositions

19216	Propositions (such as 'that dog is barking') only exist if their items exist [Williamson]
	Full Idea: A proposition about an item exists only if that item exists... how could something be the proposition that that dog is barking in circumstances in which that dog does not exist?
	From: Timothy Williamson (Necessary Existents [2002], p.240), quoted by Trenton Merricks - Propositions
	A reaction: This is a view of propositions I can't make sense of. If I'm under an illusion that there is a dog barking nearby, when there isn't one, can I not say 'that dog is barking'? If I haven't expressed a proposition, what have I done?

21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 2. Aesthetic Attitude

20443	The aesthetic attitude is nothing more than paying close attention [Dickie, by Giovannelli]
	Full Idea: Once analysed, Dickie claimed, the so-called aesthetic attitude is not special at all, but is rather just a matter of close attention and focus on the subject.
	From: report of George Dickie (The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude [1964]) by Alessandro Giovannelli - Some contemporary developments (aesthetics) 1
	A reaction: Sounds wrong. If a paint specialist gives close attention to a painting, they do not necessarily have an aesthetic view of it. You need to know the aim of the activity, just as when you watch a game.

29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / b. Soul

24043	Soul must be immortal, since it continually moves, like the heavens [Alcmaeon, by Aristotle]
	Full Idea: Alcmaeon says that the soul is immortal because it resembles immortal things and that this affection belongs to it because it is always in movement, like divine things, such the moon, the sun, the stars and the whole heaven.
	From: report of Alcmaeon (fragments/reports [c.490 BCE], DK 24) by Aristotle - De Anima 405a30
	A reaction: Hm. Fish and rivers seem to be continually moving too. Presumably we are like gods, but then Greek gods seem awfully like humans. I don't know the history of belief in immortality; an interesting topic.