53 ideas
354 | Wisdom makes virtue and true goodness possible [Plato] |
370 | Philosophy is a purification of the soul ready for the afterlife [Plato] |
6887 | Linguistic philosophy approaches problems by attending to actual linguistic usage [Mautner] |
6881 | Analytic philosophy studies the unimportant, and sharpens tools instead of using them [Mautner] |
5439 | The 'hermeneutic circle' says parts and wholes are interdependent, and so cannot be interpreted [Mautner] |
350 | In investigation the body leads us astray, but the soul gets a clear view of the facts [Plato] |
362 | The greatest misfortune for a person is to develop a dislike for argument [Plato] |
9959 | 'Real' definitions give the essential properties of things under a concept [Mautner] |
9961 | 'Contextual definitions' replace whole statements, not just expressions [Mautner] |
9958 | Recursive definition defines each instance from a previous instance [Mautner] |
9960 | A stipulative definition lays down that an expression is to have a certain meaning [Mautner] |
9957 | Ostensive definitions point to an object which an expression denotes [Mautner] |
6219 | The fallacy of composition is the assumption that what is true of the parts is true of the whole [Mautner] |
6888 | Fuzzy logic is based on the notion that there can be membership of a set to some degree [Mautner] |
6877 | Entailment is logical requirement; it may be not(p and not-q), but that has problems [Mautner] |
6880 | Strict implication says false propositions imply everything, and everything implies true propositions [Mautner] |
6879 | 'Material implication' is defined as 'not(p and not-q)', but seems to imply a connection between p and q [Mautner] |
6878 | A person who 'infers' draws the conclusion, but a person who 'implies' leaves it to the audience [Mautner] |
6889 | Vagueness seems to be inconsistent with the view that every proposition is true or false [Mautner] |
6890 | Quantifiers turn an open sentence into one to which a truth-value can be assigned [Mautner] |
13155 | If you add one to one, which one becomes two, or do they both become two? [Plato] |
21347 | If Simmias is taller than Socrates, that isn't a feature that is just in Simmias [Plato] |
360 | We must have a prior knowledge of equality, if we see 'equal' things and realise they fall short of it [Plato] |
1 | There is only one source for all beauty [Plato] |
368 | Other things are named after the Forms because they participate in them [Plato] |
16516 | The ship which Theseus took to Crete is now sent to Delos crowned with flowers [Plato] |
6882 | Counterfactuals presuppose a belief (or a fact) that the condition is false [Mautner] |
6886 | Counterfactuals are not true, they are merely valid [Mautner] |
6885 | Counterfactuals are true if in every world close to actual where p is the case, q is also the case [Mautner] |
6884 | Counterfactuals say 'If it had been, or were, p, then it would be q' [Mautner] |
6883 | Maybe counterfactuals are only true if they contain valid inference from premisses [Mautner] |
5449 | Essentialism is often identified with belief in 'de re' necessary truths [Mautner] |
6898 | Fallibilism is the view that all knowledge-claims are provisional [Mautner] |
357 | People are obviously recollecting when they react to a geometrical diagram [Plato] |
359 | If we feel the inadequacy of a resemblance, we must recollect the original [Plato] |
9343 | To achieve pure knowledge, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things with the soul [Plato] |
6452 | 'Sense-data' arrived in 1910, but it denotes ideas in Locke, Berkeley and Hume [Mautner] |
4783 | Observing lots of green x can confirm 'all x are green' or 'all x are grue', where 'grue' is arbitrary [Mautner, by PG] |
4782 | 'All x are y' is equivalent to 'all non-y are non-x', so observing paper is white confirms 'ravens are black' [Mautner, by PG] |
15859 | To investigate the causes of things, study what is best for them [Plato] |
5987 | Alcmaeon was the first to say the brain is central to thinking [Alcmaeon, by Staden, von] |
13154 | Do we think and experience with blood, air or fire, or could it be our brain? [Plato] |
364 | One soul can't be more or less of a soul than another [Plato] |
6899 | The references of indexicals ('there', 'now', 'I') depend on the circumstances of utterance [Mautner] |
6896 | Double effect is the distinction between what is foreseen and what is intended [Mautner] |
6897 | Double effect acts need goodness, unintended evil, good not caused by evil, and outweighing [Mautner] |
5452 | 'Essentialism' is opposed to existentialism, and claims there is a human nature [Mautner] |
361 | It is a mistake to think that the most violent pleasure or pain is therefore the truest reality [Plato] |
351 | War aims at the acquisition of wealth, because we are enslaved to the body [Plato] |
13156 | Fancy being unable to distinguish a cause from its necessary background conditions! [Plato] |
369 | If the Earth is spherical and in the centre, it is kept in place by universal symmetry, not by force [Plato] |
363 | Whether the soul pre-exists our body depends on whether it contains the ultimate standard of reality [Plato] |
24043 | Soul must be immortal, since it continually moves, like the heavens [Alcmaeon, by Aristotle] |