109 ideas
| 421 | Men who love wisdom must be inquirers into very many things indeed [Heraclitus] |
| 1491 | Everyone has the potential for self-knowledge and sound thinking [Heraclitus] |
| 5863 | Reason is eternal, but men are foolish [Heraclitus] |
| 12274 | Begin examination with basics, and subdivide till you can go no further [Aristotle] |
| 11832 | We learn a concept's relations by using it, without reducing it to anything [Wiggins] |
| 414 | Logos is common to all, but most people live as if they have a private understanding [Heraclitus] |
| 416 | Beautiful harmony comes from things that are in opposition to one another [Heraclitus] |
| 425 | A thing can have opposing tensions but be in harmony, like a lyre [Heraclitus] |
| 12260 | Dialectic starts from generally accepted opinions [Aristotle] |
| 12291 | There can't be one definition of two things, or two definitions of the same thing [Aristotle] |
| 12292 | Definitions are easily destroyed, since they can contain very many assertions [Aristotle] |
| 12272 | We describe the essence of a particular thing by means of its differentiae [Aristotle] |
| 12279 | The differentia indicate the qualities, but not the essence [Aristotle] |
| 12283 | In definitions the first term to be assigned ought to be the genus [Aristotle] |
| 12289 | The genera and the differentiae are part of the essence [Aristotle] |
| 12261 | Differentia are generic, and belong with genus [Aristotle] |
| 12263 | 'Genus' is part of the essence shared among several things [Aristotle] |
| 12285 | The definition is peculiar to one thing, not common to many [Aristotle] |
| 1312 | If everything is and isn't then everything is true, and a midway between true and false makes everything false [Aristotle on Heraclitus] |
| 11863 | (λx)[Man x] means 'the property x has iff x is a man'. [Wiggins] |
| 11261 | Puzzles arise when reasoning seems equal on both sides [Aristotle] |
| 12273 | Unit is the starting point of number [Aristotle] |
| 14746 | What exists can't depend on our conceptual scheme, and using all conceptual schemes is too liberal [Sider on Wiggins] |
| 12267 | There are ten categories: essence, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, activity, passivity [Aristotle] |
| 12282 | An individual property has to exist (in past, present or future) [Aristotle] |
| 12264 | An 'accident' is something which may possibly either belong or not belong to a thing [Aristotle] |
| 15658 | The hidden harmony is stronger than the visible [Heraclitus] |
| 11900 | We can accept criteria of distinctness and persistence, without making the counterfactual claims [Mackie,P on Wiggins] |
| 11870 | Activity individuates natural things, functions do artefacts, and intentions do artworks [Wiggins] |
| 11866 | The idea of 'thisness' is better expressed with designation/predication and particular/universal [Wiggins] |
| 12280 | Genus gives the essence better than the differentiae do [Aristotle] |
| 11896 | A sortal essence is a thing's principle of individuation [Wiggins, by Mackie,P] |
| 15835 | Wiggins's sortal essentialism rests on a thing's principle of individuation [Wiggins, by Mackie,P] |
| 11841 | The evening star is the same planet but not the same star as the morning star, since it is not a star [Wiggins] |
| 10679 | 'Sortalism' says parts only compose a whole if it falls under a sort or kind [Wiggins, by Hossack] |
| 14363 | Identity a=b is only possible with some concept to give persistence and existence conditions [Wiggins, by Strawson,P] |
| 14364 | A thing is necessarily its highest sortal kind, which entails an essential constitution [Wiggins, by Strawson,P] |
| 11851 | Many predicates are purely generic, or pure determiners, rather than sortals [Wiggins] |
| 11865 | The possibility of a property needs an essential sortal concept to conceive it [Wiggins] |
| 13782 | Everything gives way, and nothing stands fast [Heraclitus] |
| 14744 | Objects can only coincide if they are of different kinds; trees can't coincide with other trees [Wiggins, by Sider] |
| 11853 | A mixed drink separates if it is not stirred [Heraclitus] |
| 11852 | Is the Pope's crown one crown, if it is made of many crowns? [Wiggins] |
| 11875 | Boundaries are not crucial to mountains, so they are determinate without a determinate extent [Wiggins] |
| 14749 | Identity is an atemporal relation, but composition is relative to times [Wiggins, by Sider] |
| 11844 | If I destroy an item, I do not destroy each part of it [Wiggins] |
| 13269 | In the case of a house the parts can exist without the whole, so parts are not the whole [Aristotle] |
| 11861 | We can forget about individual or particularized essences [Wiggins] |
| 12284 | Everything that is has one single essence [Aristotle] |
| 12262 | An 'idion' belongs uniquely to a thing, but is not part of its essence [Aristotle] |
| 11871 | Essences are not explanations, but individuations [Wiggins] |
| 11879 | Essentialism is best represented as a predicate-modifier: □(a exists → a is F) [Wiggins, by Mackie,P] |
| 11835 | The nominal essence is the idea behind a name used for sorting [Wiggins] |
| 11876 | It is easier to go from horses to horse-stages than from horse-stages to horses [Wiggins] |
| 427 | It is not possible to step twice into the same river [Heraclitus] |
| 11091 | You can bathe in the same river twice, but not in the same river stage [Quine on Heraclitus] |
| 11858 | The question is not what gets the title 'Theseus' Ship', but what is identical with the original [Wiggins] |
| 12290 | Destruction is dissolution of essence [Aristotle] |
| 12286 | If two things are the same, they must have the same source and origin [Aristotle] |
| 2064 | If flux is continuous, then lack of change can't be a property, so everything changes in every possible way [Plato on Heraclitus] |
| 11843 | Identity over a time and at a time aren't different concepts [Wiggins] |
| 11864 | Hesperus=Hesperus, and Phosphorus=Hesperus, so necessarily Phosphorus=Hesperus [Wiggins] |
| 11831 | The formal properties of identity are reflexivity and Leibniz's Law [Wiggins] |
| 14362 | Relative Identity is incompatible with the Indiscernibility of Identicals [Wiggins, by Strawson,P] |
| 11838 | Relativity of Identity makes identity entirely depend on a category [Wiggins] |
| 11847 | To identify two items, we must have a common sort for them [Wiggins] |
| 11839 | Do both 'same f as' and '=' support Leibniz's Law? [Wiggins] |
| 11845 | Substitutivity, and hence most reasoning, needs Leibniz's Law [Wiggins] |
| 12266 | 'Same' is mainly for names or definitions, but also for propria, and for accidents [Aristotle] |
| 12287 | Two identical things have the same accidents, they are the same; if the accidents differ, they're different [Aristotle] |
| 12288 | Numerical sameness and generic sameness are not the same [Aristotle] |
| 12259 | Reasoning is when some results follow necessarily from certain claims [Aristotle] |
| 11869 | Possible worlds rest on the objects about which we have suppositions [Wiggins] |
| 11850 | Not every story corresponds to a possible world [Wiggins] |
| 430 | Senses are no use if the soul is corrupt [Heraclitus] |
| 1500 | When we sleep, reason closes down as the senses do [Heraclitus, by Sext.Empiricus] |
| 417 | Donkeys prefer chaff to gold [Heraclitus] |
| 426 | Sea water is life-giving for fish, but not for people [Heraclitus] |
| 431 | Health, feeding and rest are only made good by disease, hunger and weariness [Heraclitus] |
| 12271 | Induction is the progress from particulars to universals [Aristotle] |
| 12293 | We say 'so in cases of this kind', but how do you decide what is 'of this kind'? [Aristotle] |
| 11848 | Asking 'what is it?' nicely points us to the persistence of a continuing entity [Wiggins] |
| 11859 | The mind conceptualizes objects; yet objects impinge upon the mind [Wiggins] |
| 11836 | We can use 'concept' for the reference, and 'conception' for sense [Wiggins] |
| 429 | To God (though not to humans) all things are beautiful and good and just [Heraclitus] |
| 12294 | Good and evil are the same thing [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
| 419 | If one does not hope, one will not find the unhoped-for, since nothing leads to it [Heraclitus] |
| 415 | If happiness is bodily pleasure, then oxen are happy when they have vetch to eat [Heraclitus] |
| 5155 | It is hard to fight against emotion, but harder still to fight against pleasure [Heraclitus] |
| 433 | For man character is destiny [Heraclitus] |
| 12277 | Friendship is preferable to money, since its excess is preferable [Aristotle] |
| 12276 | Justice and self-control are better than courage, because they are always useful [Aristotle] |
| 12275 | We value friendship just for its own sake [Aristotle] |
| 12281 | Man is intrinsically a civilized animal [Aristotle] |
| 422 | The people should fight for the law as if for their city-wall [Heraclitus] |
| 614 | Heraclitus said sometimes everything becomes fire [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
| 424 | Reason tells us that all things are one [Heraclitus] |
| 5096 | Heraclitus says that at some time everything becomes fire [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
| 17539 | The sayings of Heraclitus are still correct, if we replace 'fire' with 'energy' [Heraclitus, by Heisenberg] |
| 3054 | Heraclitus said fire could be transformed to create the other lower elements [Heraclitus, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 12265 | All water is the same, because of a certain similarity [Aristotle] |
| 11860 | Lawlike propensities are enough to individuate natural kinds [Wiggins] |
| 15660 | Logos is the source of everything, and my theories separate and explain each nature [Heraclitus] |
| 12269 | All things are in a state of motion [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
| 420 | The cosmos is eternal not created, and is an ever-living and changing fire [Heraclitus] |
| 12278 | 'Being' and 'oneness' are predicated of everything which exists [Aristotle] |
| 1499 | Heraclitus says intelligence draws on divine reason [Heraclitus, by Sext.Empiricus] |
| 15659 | Purifying yourself with blood is as crazy as using mud to wash off mud [Heraclitus] |
| 1501 | In their ignorance people pray to statues, which is like talking to a house [Heraclitus] |