Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Precis of 'Limits of Abstraction'', 'The Trouble with Being Born' and 'Abstract of 'The Fourfold Root''

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27 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 3. Wisdom Deflated
23064 So-called wisdom is just pondering things instead of acting [Cioran]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 3. Metaphysical Systems
23072 Systems are the worst despotism, in philosophy and in life [Cioran]
1. Philosophy / H. Continental Philosophy / 3. Hermeneutics
23075 A text explained ceases to be a text [Cioran]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 2. Sufficient Reason
4187 'There is nothing without a reason why it should be rather than not be' (a generalisation of 'Why?') [Schopenhauer]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 2. Aims of Definition
10528 Definitions concern how we should speak, not how things are [Fine,K]
5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 2. Logical Connectives / c. not
23066 Negation doesn't arise from reasoning, but from deep instincts [Cioran]
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]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / i. Deflating being
23077 The word 'being' is very tempting, but in fact means nothing at all [Cioran]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 4. Anti-realism
23068 People who really believe anti-realism don't bother to prove it [Cioran]
10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 1. Sources of Necessity
4192 All necessity arises from causation, which is conditioned; there is no absolute or unconditioned necessity [Schopenhauer]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 2. Understanding
4190 All understanding is an immediate apprehension of the causal relation [Schopenhauer]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty
23078 Opinions are fine, but having convictions means something has gone wrong [Cioran]
23073 Convictions are failures to study anything thoroughly [Cioran]
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
4191 What we know in ourselves is not a knower but a will [Schopenhauer]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 3. Reference of 'I'
21368 The knot of the world is the use of 'I' to refer to both willing and knowing [Schopenhauer]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
23076 If people always acted without words we would take them for robots [Cioran]
18. Thought / D. Concepts / 5. Concepts and Language / a. Concepts and language
23065 If only we could write like a reptile, of endless sensations and no concepts! [Cioran]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence
10527 An abstraction principle should not 'inflate', producing more abstractions than objects [Fine,K]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 4. Responsibility for Actions
23071 We could only be responsible if we had consented before birth to who we are [Cioran]
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 6. The Sublime
23070 We morally dissolve if we spend time with excessive beauty [Cioran]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 3. Angst
23074 In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need [Cioran]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
23062 It is better to watch the hours pass, than trying to fill them [Cioran]
23069 Fear cures boredom, because it is stronger [Cioran]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 4. Suicide
23067 Suicide is pointless, because it always comes too late [Cioran]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / b. Relative time
4189 Time may be defined as the possibility of mutually exclusive conditions of the same thing [Schopenhauer]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / d. Heaven
23063 The first man obviously found paradise unendurable [Cioran]