Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'General Draft', 'Critique of Pure Reason' and 'Summa Theologicae'

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282 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
Cleverness is shown in knowing what can reasonably be asked [Kant]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / a. Philosophy as worldly
Philosophy is homesickness - the urge to be at home everywhere [Novalis]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / e. Philosophy as reason
Reason is only interested in knowledge, actions and hopes [Kant]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
In ordinary life the highest philosophy is no better than common understanding [Kant]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 1. Nature of Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a systematic account of everything that can be known a priori [Kant]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 2. Possibility of Metaphysics
Kant turned metaphysics into epistemology, ignoring Aristotle's 'being qua being' [Kant, by Macdonald,C]
Metaphysics might do better to match objects to our cognition (and not start with the objects) [Kant]
You just can't stop metaphysical speculation, in any mature mind [Kant]
The voyage of reason may go only as far as the coastline of experience reaches [Kant]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 3. Metaphysical Systems
It is still possible to largely accept Kant as a whole (where others must be dismantled) [Kant, by Gardner]
Human reason considers all knowledge as belonging to a possible system [Kant]
Reason has two separate objects, morality and freedom, and nature, which ultimately unite [Kant]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 5. Metaphysics beyond Science
Kant showed that theoretical reason cannot give answers to speculative metaphysics [Kant, by Korsgaard]
A priori metaphysics is fond of basic unchanging entities like God, the soul, Forms, atoms… [Kant, by Fogelin]
A dove cutting through the air, might think it could fly better in airless space (which Plato attempted) [Kant]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 7. Against Metaphysics
Kant exposed the illusions of reason in the Transcendental Dialectic [Kant, by Fraassen]
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 4. Conceptual Analysis
Analysis is becoming self-conscious about our concepts [Kant]
Our reason mostly analyses concepts we already have of objects [Kant]
Analysis of our concepts is merely a preparation for proper a priori metaphysics [Kant]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 1. On Reason
In reason things can only begin if they are voluntary [Kant]
The boundaries of reason can only be determined a priori [Kant]
If I know the earth is a sphere, and I am on it, I can work out its area from a small part [Kant]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 3. Pure Reason
Pure reason deals with concepts in the understanding, not with objects [Kant]
Reason hates to be limited in its speculations [Kant]
Pure reason exists outside of time [Kant]
Pure reason is only concerned with itself because it deals with understandings, not objects [Kant]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 4. Aims of Reason
Reason keeps asking why until explanation is complete [Kant, by Korsgaard]
Religion and legislation can only be respected if they accept free and public examination [Kant]
All objections are dogmatic (against propositions), or critical (against proofs), or sceptical [Kant]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 2. Sufficient Reason
The principle of sufficient reason is the ground of possible experience in time [Kant]
Proof of the principle of sufficient reason cannot be found [Kant]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 6. Ockham's Razor
Supposing many principles is superfluous if a few will do it [Aquinas]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic
The free dialectic opposition of arguments is an invaluable part of the sceptical method [Kant]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 2. Aims of Definition
Definitions exhibit the exhaustive concept of a thing within its boundaries [Kant]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 13. Against Definition
No a priori concept can be defined [Kant]
2. Reason / E. Argument / 2. Transcendental Argument
'Transcendent' is beyond experience, and 'transcendental' is concealed within experience [Kant, by Potter]
Transcendental ideas require unity of the subject, conditions of appearance, and objects of thought [Kant]
Transcendental cognition is that a priori thought which shows how the a priori is applicable or possible [Kant]
2. Reason / E. Argument / 3. Analogy
Philosophical examples rarely fit rules properly, and lead to inflexibility [Kant]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 1. Truth
Types of lying: Speak lies, intend lies, intend deception, aim at deceptive goal? [Aquinas, by Tuckness/Wolf]
Truth is universal, but knowledge of it is not [Aquinas]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 9. Rejecting Truth
If the existence of truth is denied, the 'Truth does not exist' must be true! [Aquinas]
3. Truth / C. Correspondence Truth / 1. Correspondence Truth
We must presuppose that truth is agreement of cognition with its objects [Kant]
4. Formal Logic / B. Propositional Logic PL / 2. Tools of Propositional Logic / e. Axioms of PL
Philosophy has no axioms, as it is just rational cognition of concepts [Kant]
5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 1. Overview of Logic
Logic has precise boundaries, and is the formal rules for all thinking [Kant]
5. Theory of Logic / B. Logical Consequence / 1. Logical Consequence
If a syllogism admits one absurdity, others must follow [Aquinas]
5. Theory of Logic / I. Semantics of Logic / 2. Formal Truth
There must be a general content-free account of truth in the rules of logic [Kant]
5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 3. Antinomies
The battle of the antinomies is usually won by the attacker, and lost by any defender [Kant]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry
Geometry studies the Euclidean space that dictates how we perceive things [Kant, by Shapiro]
Geometry would just be an idle game without its connection to our intuition [Kant]
Geometrical truth comes from a general schema abstracted from a particular object [Kant, by Burge]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / c. Potential infinite
Kant only accepts potential infinity, not actual infinity [Kant, by Brown,JR]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 3. Axioms for Geometry
Euclid's could be the only viable geometry, if rejection of the parallel line postulate doesn't lead to a contradiction [Benardete,JA on Kant]
6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 4. Axioms for Number / a. Axioms for numbers
Kant suggested that arithmetic has no axioms [Kant, by Shapiro]
Axioms ought to be synthetic a priori propositions [Kant]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 2. Intuition of Mathematics
Kant's intuitions struggle to judge relevance, impossibility and exactness [Kitcher on Kant]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 4. Mathematical Empiricism / a. Mathematical empiricism
Maths is a priori, but without its relation to empirical objects it is meaningless [Kant]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 6. Logicism / d. Logicism critique
Kant taught that mathematics is independent of logic, and cannot be grounded in it [Kant, by Hilbert]
If 7+5=12 is analytic, then an infinity of other ways to reach 12 have to be analytic [Kant, by Dancy,J]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 1. Nature of Existence
Saying a thing 'is' adds nothing to it - otherwise if my concept exists, it isn't the same as my concept [Kant]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / g. Particular being
Being implies distinctness, which implies division, unity, and multitude [Aquinas]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 2. Realism
Kant is read as the phenomena being 'contrained' by the noumenon, or 'free-floating' [Talbot on Kant]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 4. Anti-realism
Without the subject or the senses, space and time vanish, as their appearances disappear [Kant]
Even the most perfect intuition gets no closer to things in themselves [Kant]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 5. Naturalism
Non-human things are explicable naturally, and voluntary things by the will, so God is not needed [Aquinas]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 1. Categories
Categories are general concepts of objects, which determine the way in which they are experienced [Kant]
Categories are necessary, so can't be implanted in us to agree with natural laws [Kant]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation
Does Kant say the mind imposes categories, or that it restricts us to them? [Rowlands on Kant]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 7. Against Powers
Kant claims causal powers are relational rather than intrinsic [Kant, by Bayne]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 1. Physical Objects
Objects in themselves are not known to us at all [Kant]
The a priori concept of objects in general is the ground of experience [Kant]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / a. Substance
A substance could exist as a subject, but not as a mere predicate [Kant]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / d. Substance defined
All appearances need substance, as that which persists through change [Kant]
Substance must exist, as the persisting substratum of the process of change [Kant]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / d. Form as unifier
Humans only have a single substantial form, which contains the others and acts for them [Aquinas]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 1. Objects over Time
An a priori principle of persistence anticipates all experience [Kant]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 7. Indiscernible Objects
The Identity of Indiscernibles is true of concepts with identical properties, but not of particulars [Kant, by Jolley]
If we ignore differences between water drops, we still distinguish them by their location [Kant]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 1. Types of Modality
Modalities do not augment our concepts; they express their relation to cognition [Kant]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 7. Natural Necessity
Natural necessity is the unconditioned necessity of appearances [Kant]
10. Modality / B. Possibility / 1. Possibility
Is the possible greater than the actual, and the actual greater than the necessary? [Kant]
The analytic mark of possibility is that it does not generate a contradiction [Kant]
A concept is logically possible if non-contradictory (but may not be actually possible) [Kant]
10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 4. Necessity from Concepts
Formal experience conditions show what is possible, and general conditions what is necessary [Kant]
10. Modality / D. Knowledge of Modality / 1. A Priori Necessary
Kant thought worldly necessities are revealed by what maths needs to make sense [Kant, by Morris,M]
Necessity is always knowable a priori, and what is known a priori is always necessary [Kant, by Schroeter]
For Kant metaphysics must be necessary, so a priori, so can't be justified by experience [Kant, by Maudlin]
Maths must be a priori because it is necessary, and that cannot be derived from experience [Kant]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 1. Knowledge
Knowledge is threefold: apprehension, reproduction by imagination, recognition by concepts [Kant, by Bowie]
Knowledge begins with intuitions, moves to concepts, and ends with ideas [Kant]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 2. Understanding
Kant showed that the understanding (unlike reason) concerns what is finite and conditioned [Kant, by Hegel]
Reason is distinct from understanding, and is the faculty of rules or principles [Kant]
Understanding essentially involves singular elements [Kant, by Burge]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / a. Beliefs
Opinion is subjectively and objectively insufficient; belief is subjective but not objective; knowledge is both [Kant]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty
The conclusions of speculative reason about necessities are certain [Aquinas]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 5. Cogito Critique
'I think therefore I am' is an identity, not an inference (as there is no major premise) [Kant]
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 1. Perceptual Realism / b. Direct realism
A knowing being possesses a further reality, the 'presence' of the thing known [Aquinas]
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 2. Phenomenalism
There are possible inhabitants of the moon, but they are just possible experiences [Kant]
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / a. Idealism
We have no sensual experience of time and space, so they must be 'ideal' [Kant, by Pinkard]
Objects having to be experiencable is not the same as full idealism [Gardner on Kant]
If we disappeared, then all relations of objects, and time and space themselves, disappear too [Kant]
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / b. Transcendental idealism
In Kantian idealism, objects fit understanding, not vice versa [Kant, by Feuerbach]
Kant's idealism is a limited idealism based on the viewpoint of empiricism [Kant, by Feuerbach]
For Kant experience is either structured like reality, or generates reality's structure [Kant, by Gardner]
The concepts that make judgeable experiences possible are created spontaneously [Kant, by Pinkard]
'Transcendental' cognition concerns what can be known a priori of its mode [Kant]
We cannot know things in themselves, but are confined to appearances [Kant]
We have proved that bodies are appearances of the outer senses, not things in themselves [Kant]
Everything we intuit is merely a representation, with no external existence (Transcendental Idealism) [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 1. Nature of the A Priori
Kant's shift of view enables us to see a priority in terms of mental capacity, not truth and propositions [Burge on Kant]
A priori knowledge is limited to objects of possible experience [Kant, by Jolley]
A priori knowledge occurs absolutely independently of all experience [Kant]
One sort of a priori knowledge just analyses given concepts, but another ventures further [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 2. Self-Evidence
Some things are self-evident to us; others are only self-evident in themselves [Aquinas]
Experienceless bodies have space; propertyless bodies have substance; this must be seen a priori [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 4. A Priori as Necessities
Two plus two objects make four objects even if experience is impossible, so Kant is wrong [Russell on Kant]
Propositions involving necessity are a priori, and pure a priori if they only derive from other necessities [Kant]
The apriori is independent of its sources, and marked by necessity and generality [Kant, by Burge]
A priori knowledge is indispensable for the possibility and certainty of experience [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 5. A Priori Synthetic
Seeing that only one parallel can be drawn to a line through a given point is clearly synthetic a priori [Kant, by Benardete,JA]
Kant bases the synthetic a priori on the categories of oneness and manyness [Kant, by Bowie]
Kant showed that we have a priori knowledge which is not purely analytic [Kant, by Russell]
We can think of 7 and 5 without 12, but it is still a contradiction to deny 7+5=12 [Ayer on Kant]
That a straight line is the shortest is synthetic, as straight does not imply any quantity [Kant]
That force and counter-force are equal is necessary, and a priori synthetic [Kant]
The real problem of pure reason is: how are a priori synthetic judgments possible? [Kant]
That two lines cannot enclose a space is an intuitive a priori synthetic proposition [Kant]
Are a priori concepts necessary as a precondition for something to be an object? [Kant]
7+5=12 is not analytic, because 12 is not contained in 7 or 5 or their combination [Kant]
We possess synthetic a priori knowledge in our principles which anticipate experience [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 6. A Priori from Reason
Reason contains within itself certain underived concepts and principles [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 7. A Priori from Convention
If, as Kant says, arithmetic and logic are contributed by us, they could change if we did [Russell on Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 8. A Priori as Analytic
A proposition is self-evident if the predicate is included in the essence of the subject [Aquinas]
No analysis of the sum of seven and five will in itself reveal twelve [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 9. A Priori from Concepts
For Kant analytic knowledge needs complex concepts, but the a priori can rest on the simple [Coffa on Kant]
With large numbers it is obvious that we could never find the sum by analysing the concepts [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 10. A Priori as Subjective
A priori the understanding can only anticipate possible experiences [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 2. Qualities in Perception / b. Primary/secondary
We know the shape of a cone from its concept, but we don't know its colour [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 2. Qualities in Perception / d. Secondary qualities
Colours and tastes are not qualities of things, but alterations of the subject [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 5. Interpretation
Kant says the cognitive and sensory elements in experience can't be separated [Kant, by Dancy,J]
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 6. Inference in Perception
Appearances have a 'form', which indicates a relational order [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism
Sensation prepares the way for intellectual knowledge, which needs the virtues of reason [Aquinas]
We cannot represent objects unless we combine concepts with intuitions [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 2. Associationism
Associations and causes cannot explain content, which needs norms of judgement [Kant, by Pinkard]
I exist just as an intelligence aware of its faculty for combination [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism
For Kant, our conceptual scheme is disastrous when it reaches beyond experience [Kant, by Fogelin]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique
Understanding has no intuitions, and senses no thought, so knowledge needs their unity [Kant]
Sensations are a posteriori, but that they come in degrees is known a priori [Kant]
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 2. Intuition
Kantian intuitions are of particulars, and they give immediate knowledge [Kant, by Shapiro]
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / f. Foundationalism critique
A sufficient but general sign of truth cannot possibly be provided [Kant]
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 5. Coherentism / a. Coherence as justification
Kant says knowledge is when our representations sufficiently conform to our concepts [Kant, by Critchley]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 1. Scepticism
Kant thought he had refuted scepticism, but his critics say he is a sceptic, for rejecting reality [O'Grady on Kant]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 6. Scepticism Critique
Scepticism is the euthanasia of pure reason [Kant]
Scepticism is absurd in maths, where there are no hidden false assertions [Kant]
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 1. Relativism
For Kant, experience is relative to a scheme, but there are no further possible schemes [Kant, by Fogelin]
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 6. Falsification
If a proposition implies any false consequences, then it is false [Kant]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 3. Mental Causation
Freedom and natural necessity do not contradict, as they relate to different conditions [Kant]
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / f. Higher-order thought
Kant thought that consciousness depends on self-consciousness ('apperception') [Kant, by Crane]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 1. Faculties
Sensations are transmitted to 'internal senses' in the brain, chiefly to 'phantasia' and 'imagination' [Aquinas, by Kretzmann/Stump]
Kant's only answer as to how synthetic a priori judgements are possible was that we have a 'faculty'! [Nietzsche on Kant]
Judgements which are essentially and strictly universal reveal our faculty of a priori cognition [Kant]
Reason has logical and transcendental faculties [Kant]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 2. Imagination
Mental activity combines what we sense with imagination of what is not present [Aquinas]
We are seldom aware of imagination, but we would have no cognition at all without it [Kant]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 3. Abstraction by mind
Abstracting A from B generates truth, as long as the connection is not denied [Aquinas]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 5. Generalisation by mind
We understand the general nature of things by ignoring individual peculiarities [Aquinas]
The mind abstracts generalities from images, but also uses images for understanding [Aquinas]
Very general ideas (being, oneness, potentiality) can be abstracted from thought matter in general [Aquinas]
Particular instances come first, and (pace Plato) generalisations are abstracted from them [Aquinas]
Species are abstracted from appearances by ignoring individual conditions [Aquinas]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 6. Idealisation
Desire for perfection is an illness, if it turns against what is imperfect [Novalis]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 3. Self as Non-physical
I can express the motion of my body in a single point, but that doesn't mean it is a simple substance [Kant]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 4. Presupposition of Self
To some extent we must view ourselves as noumena [Kant, by Korsgaard]
Representation would be impossible without the 'I think' that accompanies it [Kant]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / a. Self needs body
We need an account of the self based on rational principles, to avoid materialism [Kant]
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
Self-knowledge can only be inner sensation, and thus appearance [Kant]
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection
I have no cognition of myself as I am, but only as I appear to myself [Kant]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 2. Mental Continuity / c. Inadequacy of mental continuity
I can only determine my existence in time via external things [Kant]
As balls communicate motion, so substances could communicate consciousness, but not retain identity [Kant]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 3. Reference of 'I'
For Kant the self is a purely formal idea, not a substance [Kant, by Lockwood]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 7. Self and Thinking
Mental representations would not be mine if they did not belong to a unified self-consciousness [Kant]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 1. Nature of Free Will
Aquinas attributes freedom to decisions and judgements, and not to the will alone [Aquinas, by Kretzmann/Stump]
We must assume an absolute causal spontaneity beginning from itself [Kant]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 4. For Free Will
We must be free, because we can act against our strongest desires [Kant, by Korsgaard]
If there is a first beginning, there can be other sequences initiated from nothing [Kant]
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 1. Dualism
The human intellectual soul is an incorporeal, subsistent principle [Aquinas]
Soul and body connect physically, or by harmony, or by assistance [Kant]
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 8. Dualism of Mind Critique
Our concept of an incorporeal nature is merely negative [Kant]
Neither materialism nor spiritualism can reveal the separate existence of the soul [Kant]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 1. Thought
A pure concept of the understanding can never become an image [Kant]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / a. Rationality
Kantian 'intuition' is the bridge between pure reason and its application to sense experiences [Kant, by Friend]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 6. Judgement / a. Nature of Judgement
First grasp what it is, then its essential features; judgement is their compounding and division [Aquinas]
18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 2. Categories of Understanding
Kant deduced the categories from our judgements, and then as preconditions of experience [Kant, by Houlgate]
Kant says we can describe the categories of thought, but Hegel claims to deduce them [Kant, by Meillassoux]
Categories are concepts that prescribe laws a priori to appearances [Kant]
Four groups of categories of concept: Quantity, Quality, Relation and Modality [Kant]
The categories are objectively valid, because they make experience possible [Kant]
18. Thought / D. Concepts / 1. Concepts / a. Nature of concepts
Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind [Kant]
Either experience creates concepts, or concepts make experience possible [Kant]
Reason generates no concepts, but frees them from their link to experience in the understanding [Kant]
18. Thought / D. Concepts / 1. Concepts / c. Concepts in psychology
Concepts are rules for combining representations [Kant, by Pinkard]
All human cognition is through concepts [Kant]
18. Thought / D. Concepts / 4. Structure of Concepts / b. Analysis of concepts
Kant implies that concepts have analysable parts [Kant, by Shapiro]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 1. Abstract Thought
We abstract forms from appearances, and acquire knowledge of immaterial things [Aquinas]
Understanding consists entirely of grasping abstracted species [Aquinas]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 2. Abstracta by Selection
Mathematics can be abstracted from sensible matter, and from individual intelligible matter [Aquinas]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 3. Abstracta by Ignoring
Mathematical objects abstract both from perceived matter, and from particular substance [Aquinas]
We can just think of an apple's colour, because the apple is not part of the colour's nature [Aquinas]
Abstracting either treats something as separate, or thinks of it separately [Aquinas]
Numbers and shapes are abstracted by ignoring their sensible qualities [Aquinas]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 8. Abstractionism Critique
The mind must produce by its own power an image of the individual species [Aquinas]
19. Language / E. Analyticity / 1. Analytic Propositions
How can bachelor 'contain' unmarried man? Are all analytic truths in subject-predicate form? [Miller,A on Kant]
If the predicate is contained in the subject of a judgement, it is analytic; otherwise synthetic [Kant]
Analytic judgements clarify, by analysing the subject into its component predicates [Kant]
Non-subject/predicate tautologies won't fit Kant's definition of analyticity [Shapiro on Kant]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
The will is the rational appetite [Aquinas]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / a. Preconditions for ethics
Without God, creation and free will, morality would be empty [Kant]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / b. Rational ethics
For humans good is accordance with reason, and bad is contrary to reason [Aquinas]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / b. Fact and value
We cannot derive moral laws from experience, as it is the mother of illusion [Kant]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / e. Means and ends
We must know the end, know that it is the end, and know how to attain it [Aquinas]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / a. Normativity
We only understand what exists, and can find no sign of what ought to be in nature [Kant]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / b. Basis of virtue
All acts of virtue relate to justice, which is directed towards the common good [Aquinas]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / d. Teaching virtue
Aquinas wanted, not to escape desire, but to transform it for moral ends [Aquinas, by MacIntyre]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / i. Absolute virtues
Legal justice is supreme, because it directs the other virtues to the common good [Aquinas]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / b. Temperance
Temperance prevents our passions from acting against reason [Aquinas]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice
Justice directs our relations with others, because it denotes a kind of equality [Aquinas]
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 6. Motivation for Duty
Moral blame is based on reason, since a reason is a cause which should have been followed [Kant]
Moral laws are commands, which must involve promises and threats, which only God could provide [Kant]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 5. Existence-Essence
For Kant, essence is mental and a mere idea, and existence is the senses and mere appearance [Kant, by Feuerbach]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / d. Liberal freedom
An obvious idea is a constitution based on maximum mutual freedom for citizens [Kant]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 6. Political freedom
The existence of reason depends on the freedom of citizens to agree, doubt and veto ideas [Kant]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice
People differ in their social degrees, and a particular type of right applies to each [Aquinas]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / c. Natural law
Tyrannical laws are irrational, and so not really laws [Aquinas]
Natural law is a rational creature's participation in eternal law [Aquinas]
Right and wrong actions pertain to natural law, as perceived by practical reason [Aquinas]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / a. Just wars
For Aquinas a war must be in a just cause, have proper authority, and aim at good [Aquinas, by Grayling]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 3. Abortion
Aquinas says a fertilized egg is not human, and has no immortal soul [Aquinas, by Martin/Barresi]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 1. Nature
Kant's nature is just a system of necessary laws [Bowie on Kant]
Kant identifies nature with the scientific picture of it as the realm of law [Kant, by McDowell]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / b. Limited purposes
Reason must assume as necessary that everything in a living organism has a proportionate purpose [Kant]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 7. Later Matter Theories / c. Matter as extension
Bodies are three-dimensional substances [Aquinas]
Extension and impenetrability together make the concept of matter [Kant]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / b. Causal relata
A ball denting a pillow seems like simultaneous cause and effect, though time identifies which is cause [Kant]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / a. Constant conjunction
Appearances give rules of what usually happens, but cause involves necessity [Kant]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / b. Nomological causation
The concept of causality entails laws; random causality is a contradiction [Kant, by Korsgaard]
We judge causation by relating events together by some law of nature [Kant, by Mares]
Experience is only possible because we subject appearances to causal laws [Kant]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / d. Causal necessity
Causation obviously involves necessity, so it cannot just be frequent association [Kant]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / b. Scientific necessity
For Kant the laws must be necessary, because contingency would destroy representation [Kant, by Meillassoux]
Kant fails to prove the necessity of laws, because his reasoning about chance is over-ambitious [Meillassoux on Kant]
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 2. Space
We can't learn of space through experience; experience of space needs its representation [Kant]
Space is an a priori necessary basic intuition, as we cannot imagine its absence [Kant]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / a. Absolute time
If space and time exist absolutely, we must assume the existence of two pointless non-entities [Kant]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / c. Idealist time
One can never imagine appearances without time, so it is given a priori [Kant]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / a. Experience of time
That times cannot be simultaneous is synthetic, so it is known by intuition, not analysis [Kant]
The three modes of time are persistence, succession and simultaneity [Kant]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / b. Rate of time
If time involved succession, we must think of another time in which succession occurs [Kant]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / b. Euthyphro question
We don't accept duties as coming from God, but assume they are divine because they are duties [Kant]
Divine law commands some things because they are good, while others are good because commanded [Aquinas]
28. God / B. Proving God / 1. Proof of God
Only three proofs of God: the physico-theological (evidence), the cosmological (existence), the ontological (a priori) [Kant]
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / b. Ontological Proof critique
We can't know God's essence, so his existence can't be self-evident for us [Aquinas]
Existence is merely derived from the word 'is' (rather than being a predicate) [Kant, by Orenstein]
Modern logic says (with Kant) that existence is not a predicate, because it has been reclassified as a quantifier [Benardete,JA on Kant]
Kant never denied that 'exist' could be a predicate - only that it didn't enlarge concepts [Kant, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
If 'this exists' is analytic, either the thing is a thought, or you have presupposed its existence [Kant]
Is "This thing exists" analytic or synthetic? [Kant]
If an existential proposition is synthetic, you must be able to cancel its predicate without contradiction [Kant]
Being is not a real predicate, that adds something to a concept [Kant]
You add nothing to the concept of God or coins if you say they exist [Kant]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / a. Cosmological Proof
If you assume that there must be a necessary being, you can't say which being has this quality [Kant on Aquinas]
Way 1: the infinite chain of potential-to-actual movement has to have a first mover [Aquinas]
Way 2: no effect without a cause, and this cannot go back to infinity, so there is First Cause [Aquinas]
Way 3: contingent beings eventually vanish, so continuity needs a necessary being [Aquinas]
Way 4: the source of all qualities is their maximum, so something (God) causes all perfections [Aquinas]
If you prove God cosmologically, by a regress in the sequences of causes, you can't abandon causes at the end [Kant]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof
Way 5: mindless things act towards an obvious end, so there is an intelligent director [Aquinas]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / a. Christianity
Life aims at the Beatific Vision - of perfect happiness, and revealed truth [Aquinas, by Zagzebski]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / c. Angels
Aquinas saw angels as separated forms, rather than as made of 'spiritual matter' [Aquinas, by Kretzmann/Stump]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality
Humans have a non-physical faculty of reason, so they can be immortal [Aquinas, by Sorabji]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / d. Heaven
Those in bliss have their happiness increased by seeing the damned punished [Aquinas]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / a. Problem of Evil
God does not exist, because He is infinite and good, and so no evil should be discoverable [Aquinas]
It is part of God's supreme goodness that He brings good even out of evil [Aquinas]