115 ideas
20186 | Unlike knowledge, wisdom cannot be misused [Zagzebski] |
19694 | Wisdom is the property of a person, not of their cognitive state [Zagzebski, by Whitcomb] |
4194 | Metaphysics is concerned with the fundamental structure of reality as a whole [Lowe] |
4214 | Maybe such concepts as causation, identity and existence are primitive and irreducible [Lowe] |
4222 | If all that exists is what is being measured, what about the people and instruments doing the measuring? [Lowe] |
224 | When questions are doubtful we should concentrate not on objects but on ideas of the intellect [Plato] |
232 | Opposites are as unlike as possible [Plato] |
4217 | It is more extravagant, in general, to revise one's logic than to augment one's ontology [Lowe] |
8937 | Plato's 'Parmenides' is the greatest artistic achievement of the ancient dialectic [Hegel on Plato] |
20221 | Precision is only one of the virtues of a good definition [Zagzebski] |
20220 | Objection by counterexample is weak, because it only reveals inaccuracies in one theory [Zagzebski] |
13986 | Plato found antinomies in ideas, Kant in space and time, and Bradley in relations [Plato, by Ryle] |
14150 | Plato's 'Parmenides' is perhaps the best collection of antinomies ever made [Russell on Plato] |
4229 | An infinite series of tasks can't be completed because it has no last member [Lowe] |
4240 | It might be argued that mathematics does not, or should not, aim at truth [Lowe] |
16150 | One is, so numbers exist, so endless numbers exist, and each one must partake of being [Plato] |
4241 | If there are infinite numbers and finite concrete objects, this implies that numbers are abstract objects [Lowe] |
229 | The one was and is and will be and was becoming and is becoming and will become [Plato] |
21821 | Plato's Parmenides has a three-part theory, of Primal One, a One-Many, and a One-and-Many [Plato, by Plotinus] |
4239 | Nominalists deny abstract objects, because we can have no reason to believe in their existence [Lowe] |
4202 | Change can be of composition (the component parts), or quality (properties), or substance [Lowe] |
4201 | Four theories of qualitative change are 'a is F now', or 'a is F-at-t', or 'a-at-t is F', or 'a is-at-t F' [Lowe, by PG] |
4219 | Numerically distinct events of the same kind (like two battles) can coincide in space and time [Lowe] |
4221 | Maybe modern physics requires an event-ontology, rather than a thing-ontology [Lowe] |
4225 | Events are changes in the properties of or relations between things [Lowe] |
4220 | Maybe an event is the exemplification of a property at a time [Lowe] |
221 | Absolute ideas, such as the Good and the Beautiful, cannot be known by us [Plato] |
4196 | The main categories of existence are either universal and particular, or abstract and concrete [Lowe] |
4234 | Trope theory says blueness is a real feature of objects, but not the same as an identical blue found elsewhere [Lowe] |
4235 | Maybe a cushion is just a bundle of tropes, such as roundness, blueness and softness [Lowe] |
4236 | Tropes seem to be abstract entities, because they can't exist alone, but must come in bundles [Lowe] |
4197 | The category of universals can be sub-divided into properties and relations [Lowe] |
227 | You must always mean the same thing when you utter the same name [Plato] |
223 | If you deny that each thing always stays the same, you destroy the possibility of discussion [Plato] |
210 | It would be absurd to think there were abstract Forms for vile things like hair, mud and dirt [Plato] |
219 | If absolute ideas existed in us, they would cease to be absolute [Plato] |
228 | Greatness and smallness must exist, to be opposed to one another, and come into being in things [Plato] |
211 | If admirable things have Forms, maybe everything else does as well [Plato] |
220 | The concept of a master includes the concept of a slave [Plato] |
16151 | Plato moves from Forms to a theory of genera and principles in his later work [Plato, by Frede,M] |
212 | The whole idea of each Form must be found in each thing which participates in it [Plato] |
213 | Each idea is in all its participants at once, just as daytime is a unity but in many separate places at once [Plato] |
216 | If things are made alike by participating in something, that thing will be the absolute idea [Plato] |
218 | Participation is not by means of similarity, so we are looking for some other method of participation [Plato] |
215 | If things partake of ideas, this implies either that everything thinks, or that everything actually is thought [Plato] |
214 | If absolute greatness and great things are seen as the same, another thing appears which makes them seem great [Plato] |
217 | Nothing can be like an absolute idea, because a third idea intervenes to make them alike (leading to a regress) [Plato] |
4232 | Nominalists believe that only particulars exist [Lowe] |
4205 | 'Is non-self-exemplifying' is a predicate which cannot denote a property (as it would be a contradiction) [Lowe] |
4233 | If 'blueness' is a set of particulars, there is danger of circularity, or using universals, in identifying the set [Lowe] |
4206 | Conventionalists see the world as an amorphous lump without identities, but are we part of the lump? [Lowe] |
15851 | Parts must belong to a created thing with a distinct form [Plato] |
4204 | Statues can't survive much change to their shape, unlike lumps of bronze, which must retain material [Lowe] |
15846 | In Parmenides, if composition is identity, a whole is nothing more than its parts [Plato, by Harte,V] |
15849 | Plato says only a one has parts, and a many does not [Plato, by Harte,V] |
15850 | Anything which has parts must be one thing, and parts are of a one, not of a many [Plato] |
13259 | It seems that the One must be composed of parts, which contradicts its being one [Plato] |
4198 | If 5% replacement preserves a ship, we can replace 4% and 4% again, and still retain the ship [Lowe] |
4199 | A renovation or a reconstruction of an original ship would be accepted, as long as the other one didn't exist [Lowe] |
4200 | If old parts are stored and then appropriated, they are no longer part of the original (which is the renovated ship). [Lowe] |
15847 | Two things relate either as same or different, or part of a whole, or the whole of the part [Plato] |
4203 | Identity of Indiscernibles (same properties, same thing) ) is not Leibniz's Law (same thing, same properties) [Lowe] |
4195 | It is impossible to reach a valid false conclusion from true premises, so reason itself depends on possibility [Lowe] |
4207 | We might eliminate 'possible' and 'necessary' in favour of quantification over possible worlds [Lowe] |
20188 | Modern epistemology is too atomistic, and neglects understanding [Zagzebski] |
20223 | Epistemology is excessively atomic, by focusing on justification instead of understanding [Zagzebski] |
20217 | Truth is valuable, but someone knowing the truth is more valuable [Zagzebski] |
20191 | Some beliefs are fairly voluntary, and others are not at all so [Zagzebski] |
20222 | Knowledge either aims at a quantity of truths, or a quality of understanding of truths [Zagzebski] |
20225 | For internalists Gettier situations are where internally it is fine, but there is an external mishap [Zagzebski] |
20226 | Gettier problems are always possible if justification and truth are not closely linked [Zagzebski] |
20228 | We avoid the Gettier problem if the support for the belief entails its truth [Zagzebski] |
20227 | Gettier cases arise when good luck cancels out bad luck [Zagzebski] |
20194 | Intellectual virtues are forms of moral virtue [Zagzebski] |
20206 | Intellectual and moral prejudice are the same vice (and there are other examples) [Zagzebski] |
20208 | We can name at least thirteen intellectual vices [Zagzebski] |
20210 | A reliable process is no use without the virtues to make use of them [Zagzebski] |
20215 | A justified belief emulates the understanding and beliefs of an intellectually virtuous person [Zagzebski] |
20187 | Epistemic perfection for reliabilism is a truth-producing machine [Zagzebski] |
4223 | Unfalsifiability may be a failure in an empirical theory, but it is a virtue in metaphysics [Lowe] |
4193 | The behaviour of persons and social groups seems to need rational rather than causal explanation [Lowe] |
20218 | The self is known as much by its knowledge as by its action [Zagzebski] |
20205 | The feeling accompanying curiosity is neither pleasant nor painful [Zagzebski] |
4238 | The centre of mass of the solar system is a non-causal abstract object, despite having a location [Lowe] |
4237 | Concrete and abstract objects are distinct because the former have causal powers and relations [Lowe] |
20202 | Motives involve desires, but also how the desires connect to our aims [Zagzebski] |
20216 | Modern moral theory concerns settling conflicts, rather than human fulfilment [Zagzebski] |
20193 | Moral luck means our praise and blame may exceed our control or awareness [Zagzebski] |
20199 | Nowadays we doubt the Greek view that the flourishing of individuals and communities are linked [Zagzebski] |
20207 | Every moral virtue requires a degree of intelligence [Zagzebski] |
20196 | Virtue theory is hopeless if there is no core of agreed universal virtues [Zagzebski] |
20200 | A virtue must always have a corresponding vice [Zagzebski] |
20201 | Eight marks distingush skills from virtues [Zagzebski, by PG] |
20203 | Virtues are deep acquired excellences of persons, which successfully attain desire ends [Zagzebski] |
20214 | Virtue theory can have lots of rules, as long as they are grounded in virtues and in facts [Zagzebski] |
20213 | We need phronesis to coordinate our virtues [Zagzebski] |
20209 | For the virtue of honesty you must be careful with the truth, and not just speak truly [Zagzebski] |
20197 | The courage of an evil person is still a quality worth having [Zagzebski] |
222 | Only a great person can understand the essence of things, and an even greater person can teach it [Plato] |
225 | The unlimited has no shape and is endless [Plato] |
233 | Some things do not partake of the One [Plato] |
2062 | The only movement possible for the One is in space or in alteration [Plato] |
231 | Everything partakes of the One in some way [Plato] |
4210 | If the concept of a cause says it precedes its effect, that rules out backward causation by definition [Lowe] |
4209 | The theories of fact causation and event causation are both worth serious consideration [Lowe] |
4215 | It seems proper to say that only substances (rather than events) have causal powers [Lowe] |
4211 | Causal overdetermination is either actual overdetermination, or pre-emption, or the fail-safe case [Lowe] |
4213 | Causation may be instances of laws (seen either as constant conjunctions, or as necessities) [Lowe] |
4212 | Hume showed that causation could at most be natural necessity, never metaphysical necessity [Lowe] |
14581 | The normative view says laws show the natural behaviour of natural kind members [Lowe, by Mumford/Anjum] |
4208 | 'If he wasn't born he wouldn't have died' doesn't mean birth causes death, so causation isn't counterfactual [Lowe] |
4224 | If motion is change of distance between objects, it involves no intrinsic change in the objects [Lowe] |
4227 | Surfaces, lines and points are not, strictly speaking, parts of space, but 'limits', which are abstract [Lowe] |
4228 | If space is entirely relational, what makes a boundary, or a place unoccupied by physical objects? [Lowe] |
234 | We couldn't discuss the non-existence of the One without knowledge of it [Plato] |