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All the ideas for 'On Human Nature', 'Freedom of the Will and concept of a person' and 'Nature Without Essence'

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31 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 6. Compactness
17867 If a concept is not compact, it will not be presentable to finite minds [Almog]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / d. Natural numbers
17877 The number series is primitive, not the result of some set theoretic axioms [Almog]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 3. Levels of Reality
5311 If observation goes up a level, we expect the laws of the lower level to remain in force [Wilson,EO]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 5. Universals as Concepts
5312 A child first sees objects as distinct, and later as members of groups [Wilson,EO]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 4. Essence as Definition
17871 Fregean meanings are analogous to conceptual essence, defining a kind [Almog]
17866 Essential definition aims at existence conditions and structural truths [Almog]
17868 Surface accounts aren't exhaustive as they always allow unintended twin cases [Almog]
17872 Definitionalists rely on snapshot-concepts, instead of on the real processes [Almog]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 10. Essence as Species
17870 Alien 'tigers' can't be tigers if they are not related to our tigers [Almog]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 13. Nominal Essence
17869 Kripke and Putnam offer an intermediary between real and nominal essences [Almog]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism
17876 Individual essences are just cobbled together classificatory predicates [Almog]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / a. Beliefs
5309 Beliefs are really enabling mechanisms for survival [Wilson,EO]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 6. Self as Higher Awareness
9264 Persons are distinguished by a capacity for second-order desires [Frankfurt]
9266 A person essentially has second-order volitions, and not just second-order desires [Frankfurt]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 1. Nature of Free Will
9267 Free will is the capacity to choose what sort of will you have [Frankfurt]
18. Thought / C. Content / 5. Twin Earth
17873 Water must be related to water, just as tigers must be related to tigers [Almog]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
9265 The will is the effective desire which actually leads to an action [Frankfurt]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / c. Agent causation
20015 Freedom of action needs the agent to identify with their reason for acting [Frankfurt, by Wilson/Schpall]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / d. Ethical theory
5310 Philosophers study the consequences of ethics instead of its origins [Wilson,EO]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / g. Moral responsibility
9270 A 'wanton' is not a person, because they lack second-order volitions [Frankfurt]
9269 A person may be morally responsible without free will [Frankfurt]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
5313 The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature' [Wilson,EO]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / f. Altruism
5316 We undermine altruism by rewarding it, but we reward it to encourage it [Wilson,EO]
5318 Pure hard-core altruism based on kin selection is the enemy of civilisation [Wilson,EO]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 1. Contractarianism
5317 The actor is most convincing who believes that his performance is real [Wilson,EO]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / c. Purpose denied
5308 The only human purpose is that created by our genetic history [Wilson,EO]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / e. Anti scientific essentialism
17864 Defining an essence comes no where near giving a thing's nature [Almog]
17863 Essences promise to reveal reality, but actually drive us away from it [Almog]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution
5314 Cultural evolution is Lamarckian and fast, biological evolution is Darwinian and slow [Wilson,EO]
5315 Over 99 percent of human evolution has been in the hunter-gatherer phase [Wilson,EO]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / a. Religious Belief
5320 It is estimated that mankind has produced 100,000 religions [Wilson,EO]