Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Letters to Wolff', 'Principle Doctrines ('Kuriai Doxai') (frags)' and 'Thinking About Mechanisms'

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25 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People
14519 It is a great good to show reverence for a wise man [Epicurus]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 2. Invocation to Philosophy
14518 In the study of philosophy, pleasure and knowledge arrive simultaneously [Epicurus]
7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 2. Processes
16554 Activities have place, rate, duration, entities, properties, modes, direction, polarity, energy and range [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 2. Powers as Basic
16556 Penicillin causes nothing; the cause is what penicillin does [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / b. Individuation by properties
14524 Bodies are combinations of shape, size, resistance and weight [Epicurus]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 9. Essence and Properties
13191 The properties of a thing flow from its essence [Leibniz]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 2. Understanding
16562 We understand something by presenting its low-level entities and activities [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / e. Lawlike explanations
16563 The explanation is not the regularity, but the activity sustaining it [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / h. Explanations by function
16555 Functions are not properties of objects, they are activities contributing to mechanisms [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / i. Explanations by mechanism
16529 Mechanisms are systems organised to produce regular change [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
16530 A mechanism explains a phenomenon by showing how it was produced [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
16553 Our account of mechanism combines both entities and activities [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
16559 Descriptions of explanatory mechanisms have a bottom level, where going further is irrelevant [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
16528 Mechanisms are not just push-pull systems [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 3. Best Explanation / b. Ultimate explanation
16564 There are four types of bottom-level activities which will explain phenomena [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 3. Abstraction by mind
16561 We can abstract by taking an exemplary case and ignoring the detail [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 6. Determinism / a. Determinism
14521 If everything is by necessity, then even denials of necessity are by necessity [Epicurus]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / c. Value of happiness
14522 What happens to me if I obtain all my desires, and what if I fail? [Epicurus]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / e. Role of pleasure
3563 Pleasure and virtue entail one another [Epicurus]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 1. Contractarianism
3560 Justice is merely a contract about not harming or being harmed [Epicurus]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / e. Character
14517 We value our own character, whatever it is, and we should respect the characters of others [Epicurus]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice
14513 Justice is a pledge of mutual protection [Epicurus]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract
14515 A law is not just if it is not useful in mutual associations [Epicurus]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 4. Suicide
14520 It is small-minded to find many good reasons for suicide [Epicurus]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 11. Against Laws of Nature
16558 Laws of nature have very little application in biology [Machamer/Darden/Craver]