81 ideas
20121 | Grammar only reveals popular metaphysics [Nietzsche] |
14227 | We could refer to tables as 'xs that are arranged tablewise' [Inwagen] |
24082 | Is the will to truth the desire to avoid deception? [Nietzsche] |
10662 | Mereology is 'nihilistic' (just atoms) or 'universal' (no restrictions on what is 'whole') [Inwagen, by Varzi] |
17587 | The 'Law' of Excluded Middle needs all propositions to be definitely true or definitely false [Inwagen] |
17558 | Variables are just like pronouns; syntactic explanations get muddled over dummy letters [Inwagen] |
17583 | There are no heaps [Inwagen] |
20360 | We Germans value becoming and development more highly than mere being of what 'is' [Nietzsche] |
17304 | As causation links across time, grounding links the world across levels [Schaffer,J] |
17306 | If ground is transitive and irreflexive, it has a strict partial ordering, giving structure [Schaffer,J] |
17578 | I reject talk of 'stuff', and treat it in terms of particles [Inwagen] |
17582 | Singular terms can be vague, because they can contain predicates, which can be vague [Inwagen] |
17556 | Material objects are in space and time, move, have a surface and mass, and are made of some stuff [Inwagen] |
8264 | Maybe table-shaped particles exist, but not tables [Inwagen, by Lowe] |
17565 | Nihilism says composition between single things is impossible [Inwagen] |
14228 | If there are no tables, but tables are things arranged tablewise, the denial of tables is a contradiction [Liggins on Inwagen] |
14468 | Actions by artefacts and natural bodies are disguised cooperations, so we don't need them [Inwagen] |
17571 | Every physical thing is either a living organism or a simple [Inwagen] |
17562 | The statue and lump seem to share parts, but the statue is not part of the lump [Inwagen] |
17574 | If you knead clay you make an infinite series of objects, but they are rearrangements, not creations [Inwagen] |
17531 | I assume matter is particulate, made up of 'simples' [Inwagen] |
17560 | If contact causes composition, do two colliding balls briefly make one object? [Inwagen] |
17561 | If bricks compose a house, that is at least one thing, but it might be many things [Inwagen] |
17566 | I think parthood involves causation, and not just a reasonably stable spatial relationship [Inwagen] |
14230 | We can deny whole objects but accept parts, by referring to them as plurals within things [Inwagen, by Liggins] |
17557 | Special Composition Question: when is a thing part of something? [Inwagen] |
17564 | The essence of a star includes the released binding energy which keeps it from collapse [Inwagen] |
17575 | The persistence of artifacts always covertly involves intelligent beings [Inwagen] |
17577 | When an electron 'leaps' to another orbit, is the new one the same electron? [Inwagen] |
17589 | If you reject transitivity of vague identity, there is no Ship of Theseus problem [Inwagen] |
17588 | We should talk of the transitivity of 'identity', and of 'definite identity' [Inwagen] |
24077 | Necessity is thought to require an event, but is only an after-effect of the event [Nietzsche] |
17572 | Actuality proves possibility, but that doesn't explain how it is possible [Inwagen] |
17579 | Counterparts reduce counterfactual identity to problems about similarity relations [Inwagen] |
17590 | A merely possible object clearly isn't there, so that is a defective notion [Inwagen] |
17591 | Merely possible objects must be consistent properties, or haecceities [Inwagen] |
20126 | The strength of knowledge is not its truth, but its entrenchment in our culture [Nietzsche] |
20119 | We became increasingly conscious of our sense impressions in order to communicate them [Nietzsche] |
20122 | We have no organ for knowledge or truth; we only 'know' what is useful to the human herd [Nietzsche] |
4423 | We assume causes, geometry, motion, bodies etc to live, but they haven't been proved [Nietzsche] |
6579 | Nietzsche's perspectivism says our worldview depends on our personality [Nietzsche, by Fogelin] |
24083 | It would be absurd to say we are only permitted our own single perspective [Nietzsche] |
17308 | Explaining 'Adam ate the apple' depends on emphasis, and thus implies a contrast [Schaffer,J] |
20115 | All of our normal mental life could be conducted without consciousness [Nietzsche] |
20117 | Only the need for communication has led to consciousness developing [Nietzsche] |
20118 | Only our conscious thought is verbal, and this shows the origin of consciousness [Nietzsche] |
20116 | Most of our lives, even the important parts, take place outside of consciousness [Nietzsche] |
20120 | Whatever moves into consciousness becomes thereby much more superficial [Nietzsche] |
2932 | 'Know thyself' is impossible and ridiculous [Nietzsche] |
24078 | Thoughts cannot be fully reproduced in words [Nietzsche] |
24081 | Most of our intellectual activity is unconscious [Nietzsche] |
2933 | Why do you listen to the voice of your conscience? [Nietzsche] |
20141 | Higher human beings see and hear far more than others, and do it more thoughtfully [Nietzsche] |
24076 | A morality ranks human drives and actions, for the sake of the herd, and subordinating individuals [Nietzsche] |
22471 | Nietzsche thought it 'childish' to say morality isn't binding because it varies between cultures [Nietzsche, by Foot] |
2935 | No two actions are the same [Nietzsche] |
20198 | Many virtues are harmful traps, but that is why other people praise them [Nietzsche] |
4275 | You cannot advocate joyful wisdom while rejecting pity, because the two are complementary [Scruton on Nietzsche] |
2934 | To see one's own judgement as a universal law is selfish [Nietzsche] |
24080 | We should give style to our character - by applying an artistic plan to its strengths and weaknesses [Nietzsche] |
20125 | The ethical teacher exists to give purpose to what happens necessarily and without purpose [Nietzsche] |
9306 | To ward off boredom at any cost is vulgar [Nietzsche] |
24079 | The best life is the dangerous life [Nietzsche] |
2936 | Imagine if before each of your actions you had to accept repeating the action over and over again [Nietzsche] |
6842 | Nietzsche says facing up to the eternal return of meaninglessness is the response to nihilism [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
17305 | I take what is fundamental to be the whole spatiotemporal manifold and its fields [Schaffer,J] |
17307 | Nowadays causation is usually understood in terms of equations and variable ranges [Schaffer,J] |
17563 | The strong force pulls, but also pushes apart if nucleons get too close together [Inwagen] |
17559 | Is one atom a piece of gold, or is a sizable group of atoms required? [Inwagen] |
17586 | At the lower level, life trails off into mere molecular interaction [Inwagen] |
17584 | Some events are only borderline cases of lives [Inwagen] |
17569 | Unlike waves, lives are 'jealous'; it is almost impossible for them to overlap [Inwagen] |
17580 | One's mental and other life is centred on the brain, unlike any other part of the body [Inwagen] |
17570 | The chemical reactions in a human life involve about sixteen elements [Inwagen] |
17585 | Life is vague at both ends, but could it be totally vague? [Inwagen] |
17568 | A tumour may spread a sort of life, but it is not a life, or an organism [Inwagen] |
17581 | Being part of an organism's life is a matter of degree, and vague [Inwagen] |
17567 | A flame is like a life, but not nearly so well individuated [Inwagen] |
17576 | If God were to 'reassemble' my atoms of ten years ago, the result would certainly not be me [Inwagen] |
17573 | There is no reason to think that mere existence is a valuable thing [Inwagen] |
2931 | God is dead, and we have killed him [Nietzsche] |