Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Tusculan Disputations', 'Subjectivist's Guide to Objective Chance' and 'Causal Explanation'

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23 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People
5893 A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience [Cicero]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / e. Philosophy as reason
5891 Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments [Cicero]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 6. Verisimilitude
15557 Verisimilitude has proved hard to analyse, and seems to have several components [Lewis]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 3. Powers as Derived
15554 A disposition needs a causal basis, a property in a certain causal role. Could the disposition be the property? [Lewis]
10. Modality / B. Possibility / 7. Chance
15560 We can explain a chance event, but can never show why some other outcome did not occur [Lewis]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / b. Aims of explanation
15559 Does a good explanation produce understanding? That claim is just empty [Lewis]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / e. Lawlike explanations
15556 Science may well pursue generalised explanation, rather than laws [Lewis]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / f. Necessity in explanations
15558 A good explanation is supposed to show that the event had to happen [Lewis]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations
4809 Lewis endorses the thesis that all explanation of singular events is causal explanation [Lewis, by Psillos]
14321 To explain an event is to provide some information about its causal history [Lewis]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche
5879 The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath [Cicero]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind
5884 How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations? [Cicero]
5887 The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish [Cicero]
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection
5886 Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things [Cicero]
17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 7. Anti-Physicalism / a. Physicalism critique
5885 Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls [Cicero]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / f. Compassion
5890 We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it [Cicero]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / c. Wealth
5894 All men except philosophers fear poverty [Cicero]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / f. Against democracy
5895 If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 2. Types of cause
15555 Explaining match lighting in general is like explaining one lighting of a match [Lewis]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / d. Selecting the cause
15551 Ways of carving causes may be natural, but never 'right' [Lewis]
15552 We only pick 'the' cause for the purposes of some particular enquiry. [Lewis]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / c. Counterfactual causation
15553 Causal dependence is counterfactual dependence between events [Lewis]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 4. Regularities / b. Best system theory
9425 Lewis later proposed the axioms at the intersection of the best theories (which may be few) [Mumford on Lewis]