Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Precis of 'Limits of Abstraction'', 'Can Mechanisms Replace Laws of Nature?' and 'De Legibus Naturae'

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21 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 7. Status of Reason
6222 If a decision is in accord with right reason, everyone can agree with it [Cumberland]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 2. Aims of Definition
10528 Definitions concern how we should speak, not how things are [Fine,K]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / d. Hume's Principle
10529 If Hume's Principle can define numbers, we needn't worry about its truth [Fine,K]
10530 Hume's Principle is either adequate for number but fails to define properly, or vice versa [Fine,K]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / e. Lawlike explanations
12790 Generalisations must be invariant to explain anything [Leuridan]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / h. Explanations by function
12789 Biological functions are explained by disposition, or by causal role [Leuridan]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / i. Explanations by mechanism
14386 Mechanisms are ontologically dependent on regularities [Leuridan]
12787 Mechanisms can't explain on their own, as their models rest on pragmatic regularities [Leuridan]
14384 We can show that regularities and pragmatic laws are more basic than mechanisms [Leuridan]
14388 Mechanisms must produce macro-level regularities, but that needs micro-level regularities [Leuridan]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 3. Best Explanation / b. Ultimate explanation
14389 There is nothing wrong with an infinite regress of mechanisms and regularities [Leuridan]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence
10527 An abstraction principle should not 'inflate', producing more abstractions than objects [Fine,K]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / d. Biological ethics
6217 Natural law is supplied to the human mind by reality and human nature [Cumberland]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / f. Ultimate value
6221 If there are different ultimate goods, there will be conflicting good actions, which is impossible [Cumberland]
23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 1. Utilitarianism
6218 The happiness of individuals is linked to the happiness of everyone (which is individuals taken together) [Cumberland]
6220 The happiness of all contains the happiness of each, and promotes it [Cumberland]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / c. Natural law
6216 Natural law is immutable truth giving moral truths and duties independent of society [Cumberland]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 3. Natural Function
14387 Rather than dispositions, functions may be the element that brought a thing into existence [Leuridan]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 3. Laws and Generalities
14382 Pragmatic laws allow prediction and explanation, to the extent that reality is stable [Leuridan]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 4. Regularities / a. Regularity theory
14385 Strict regularities are rarely discovered in life sciences [Leuridan]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 11. Against Laws of Nature
14383 A 'law of nature' is just a regularity, not some entity that causes the regularity [Leuridan]