Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Precis of 'Limits of Abstraction'', 'The Absurd' and 'A New Kind of Science'

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9 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
If your life is to be meaningful as part of some large thing, the large thing must be meaningful [Nagel]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 2. Aims of Definition
Definitions concern how we should speak, not how things are [Fine,K]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / g. Applying mathematics
At one level maths and nature are very similar, suggesting some deeper origin [Wolfram]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / d. Hume's Principle
If Hume's Principle can define numbers, we needn't worry about its truth [Fine,K]
Hume's Principle is either adequate for number but fails to define properly, or vice versa [Fine,K]
13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 8. Social Justification
Justifications come to an end when we want them to [Nagel]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence
An abstraction principle should not 'inflate', producing more abstractions than objects [Fine,K]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 2. Nihilism
If a small brief life is absurd, then so is a long and large one [Nagel]
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 4. Substantival Space
Space and its contents seem to be one stuff - so space is the only existing thing [Wolfram]