34 ideas
16123 | Whenever you perceive a community of things, you should also hunt out differences in the group [Plato] |
16125 | To reveal a nature, divide down, and strip away what it has in common with other things [Plato] |
16124 | No one wants to define 'weaving' just for the sake of weaving [Plato] |
9570 | In Field's Platonist view, set theory is false because it asserts existence for non-existent things [Field,H, by Chihara] |
10260 | Logical consequence is defined by the impossibility of P and ¬q [Field,H, by Shapiro] |
8958 | In Field's version of science, space-time points replace real numbers [Field,H, by Szabó] |
18221 | 'Metric' axioms uses functions, points and numbers; 'synthetic' axioms give facts about space [Field,H] |
8757 | The Indispensability Argument is the only serious ground for the existence of mathematical entities [Field,H] |
18212 | Nominalists try to only refer to physical objects, or language, or mental constructions [Field,H] |
10261 | The application of mathematics only needs its possibility, not its truth [Field,H, by Shapiro] |
18218 | Hilbert explains geometry, by non-numerical facts about space [Field,H] |
9623 | Field needs a semantical notion of second-order consequence, and that needs sets [Brown,JR on Field,H] |
18215 | It seems impossible to explain the idea that the conclusion is contained in the premises [Field,H] |
18210 | Why regard standard mathematics as truths, rather than as interesting fictions? [Field,H] |
18214 | Mathematics is only empirical as regards which theory is useful [Field,H] |
18216 | Abstractions can form useful counterparts to concrete statements [Field,H] |
15538 | Semantic indecision explains vagueness (if we have precisifications to be undecided about) [Lewis] |
18211 | You can reduce ontological commitment by expanding the logic [Field,H] |
8959 | Field presumes properties can be eliminated from science [Field,H, by Szabó] |
18213 | Abstract objects are only applicable to the world if they are impure, and connect to the physical [Field,H] |
15537 | If cats are vague, we deny that the many cats are one, or deny that the one cat is many [Lewis] |
15536 | We have one cloud, but many possible boundaries and aggregates for it [Lewis] |
5961 | The soul gets its goodness from god, and its evil from previous existence. [Plato] |
18222 | Beneath every extrinsic explanation there is an intrinsic explanation [Field,H] |
9917 | 'Abstract' is unclear, but numbers, functions and sets are clearly abstract [Field,H] |
283 | The question of whether or not to persuade comes before the science of persuasion [Plato] |
15539 | Basic to pragmatics is taking a message in a way that makes sense of it [Lewis] |
282 | Non-physical beauty can only be shown clearly by speech [Plato] |
281 | The arts produce good and beautiful things by preserving the mean [Plato] |
22559 | Democracy is the worst of good constitutions, but the best of bad constitutions [Plato, by Aristotle] |
18223 | In theories of fields, space-time points or regions are causal agents [Field,H] |
18220 | Both philosophy and physics now make substantivalism more attractive [Field,H] |
18219 | Relational space is problematic if you take the idea of a field seriously [Field,H] |
279 | Only divine things can always stay the same, and bodies are not like that [Plato] |