Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Leibniz', 'The German Ideology' and 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671'

expand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these texts


78 ideas

1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 1. History of Philosophy
Original philosophers invariably seek inspiration from past thinkers [Pasnau]
Philosophy consists of choosing between Plato, Aristotle and Democritus [Pasnau]
1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 3. Earlier European Philosophy / b. Early medieval philosophy
The commentaries of Averroes were the leading guide to Aristotle [Pasnau]
Modernity begins in the late 12th century, with Averroes's commentaries on Aristotle [Pasnau]
1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 3. Earlier European Philosophy / c. Later medieval philosophy
Once accidents were seen as real, 'Categories' became the major text for ontology [Pasnau]
In 1347, the Church effectively stopped philosophy for the next 300 years [Pasnau]
1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 3. Earlier European Philosophy / d. Renaissance philosophy
Renaissance Platonism is peripheral [Pasnau]
Plato only made an impact locally in 15th century Italy [Pasnau]
After c.1450 all of Plato was available. Before that, only the first half of 'Timaeus' was known [Pasnau]
1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 4. Later European Philosophy / b. Seventeenth century philosophy
Philosophy could easily have died in 17th century, if it weren't for Descartes [Pasnau]
The 17th century is a metaphysical train wreck [Pasnau]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined
Philosophy is no more than abstractions concerning observations of human historical development [Marx/Engels]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 6. Ockham's Razor
Anti-Razor: if you can't account for a truth, keep positing things until you can [Pasnau]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 1. Grounding / a. Nature of grounding
Priority was a major topic of dispute for scholastics [Pasnau]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 8. Stuff / b. Mixtures
In mixtures, the four elements ceased to exist, replaced by a mixed body with a form [Pasnau]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 6. Physicalism
Philosophical problems are resolved into empirical facts [Marx/Engels]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 3. Types of Properties
17th C qualities are either microphysical, or phenomenal, or powers [Pasnau]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 6. Categorical Properties
17th century authors only recognised categorical properties, never dispositions [Pasnau]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 8. Properties as Modes
The biggest question for scholastics is whether properties are real, or modes of substances [Pasnau]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 4. Powers as Essence
There is no centralised power, but we still need essence for a metaphysical understanding [Pasnau]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 6. Dispositions / a. Dispositions
Instead of adding Aristotelian forms to physical stuff, one could add dispositions [Pasnau]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 6. Dispositions / b. Dispositions and powers
Scholastics reject dispositions, because they are not actual, as forms require [Pasnau]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / a. Individuation
Scholastics say there is a genuine thing if it is 'separable' [Pasnau]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / b. Individuation by properties
If you reject essences, questions of individuation become extremely difficult [Pasnau]
Scholastics thought Quantity could be the principle of individuation [Pasnau]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / a. Substance
Corpuscularian critics of scholasticism say only substances exist [Pasnau]
Corpuscularianism promised a decent account of substance [Pasnau]
Scholastics wanted to treat Aristotelianism as physics, rather than as metaphysics [Pasnau]
If crowds are things at all, they seem to be Substances, since they bear properties [Pasnau]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / c. Types of substance
Scholastics use 'substantia' for thick concrete entities, and for thin metaphysical ones [Pasnau]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / e. Substance critique
For corpuscularians, a substance is just its integral parts [Pasnau]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / c. Statue and clay
If clay survives destruction of the statue, the statue wasn't a substance, but a mere accident [Pasnau]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / a. Hylomorphism
Corpuscularianism rejected not only form, but also the dependence of matter on form [Pasnau]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / b. Form as principle
Hylomorphism may not be a rival to science, but an abstract account of unity and endurance [Pasnau]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / c. Form as causal
Hylomorphism declined because scholastics made it into a testable physical theory [Pasnau]
Scholastics made forms substantial, in a way unintended by Aristotle [Pasnau]
Scholastics began to see substantial form more as Aristotle's 'efficient' cause [Pasnau]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / d. Form as unifier
Aquinas says a substance has one form; Scotists say it has many forms [Pasnau]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 4. Quantity of an Object
Scholastic Quantity either gives a body parts, or spreads them out in a unified way [Pasnau]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 7. Substratum
A substrate may be 'prime matter', which endures through every change [Pasnau]
There may be different types of substrate, or temporary substrates [Pasnau]
If a substrate gives causal support for change, quite a lot of the ingredients must endure [Pasnau]
A substratum can't be 'bare', because it has a job to do [Pasnau]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / b. Essence not necessities
Aristotelians deny that all necessary properties are essential [Pasnau]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 6. Successive Things
Typical successive things are time and motion [Pasnau]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 10. Beginning of an Object
Weak ex nihilo says it all comes from something; strong version says the old must partly endure [Pasnau]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 7. Indiscernible Objects
The Identity of Indiscernibles is really the same as the verification principle [Jolley]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / k. Explanations by essence
Essences must explain, so we can infer them causally from the accidents [Pasnau]
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / a. Consciousness
'Society determines consciousness' is contradictory; society only exists in minds [Weil on Marx/Engels]
Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life [Marx/Engels]
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 3. Meaning as Speaker's Intention
Language co-exists with consciousness, and makes it social [Marx/Engels]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
Consciousness is a social product [Marx/Engels]
The nature of an individual coincides with what they produce and how they produce it [Marx/Engels]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / d. Virtue theory critique
When aristocracy or the bourgeoisie dominate, certain values dominate with them [Marx/Engels]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self
Young Hegelians proposed changing our present consciousness for liberating critical consciousness [Marx/Engels]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
Producing their own subsistence distinguishes men from animals [Marx/Engels]
Men distinguish themselves from animals when they begin to produce their means of subsistence [Marx/Engels]
Individuals are mutually hostile unless they group together in competition with other groups [Marx/Engels]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 7. Communitarianism / a. Communitarianism
Only in community are people able to cultivate their gifts, and therefore be free [Marx/Engels]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 9. Communism
Young Hegelians think consciousness is chains for men, where old Hegelians think it the bond of society [Marx/Engels]
If the common interest imposes on the individual, his actions become alienated and enslaving [Marx/Engels]
In communist society we are not trapped in one activity, but can act freely [Marx/Engels]
The class controlling material production also controls mental production [Marx/Engels]
The revolutionary class is opposed to 'class', and represents all of society [Marx/Engels]
To assert themselves as individuals, the proletarians must overthrow the State [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
Slavery cannot be abolished without the steam-engine [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 4. Free market
Communism abolishes private property and dissolves the powerful world market [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights
The law says private property is the result of the general will [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / d. Study of history
Human history must always be studied in relation to industry and exchange [Marx/Engels]
Most historians are trapped in the illusions of their own epoch [Marx/Engels]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / g. Atomism
Atomists say causation is mechanical collisions, and all true qualities are microscopic [Pasnau]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 7. Later Matter Theories / a. Early Modern matter
In the 17th C matter became body, and was then studied by science [Pasnau]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 7. Later Matter Theories / b. Corpuscles
Atomism is the commonest version of corpuscularianism, but isn't required by it [Pasnau]
If there are just arrangements of corpuscles, where are the boundaries between substances? [Pasnau]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 2. Types of cause
Scholastic causation is by changes in the primary qualities of hot, cold, wet, dry [Pasnau]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / a. Scientific essentialism
Substantial forms were a step towards scientific essentialism [Pasnau]
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 3. The Beginning
Scholastic authors agree that matter was created by God, out of nothing [Pasnau]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / b. Transubstantiation
Transubstantion says accidents of bread and wine don't inhere in the substance [Pasnau]