Combining Texts

All the ideas for '67: Platonic Questions', 'Artistic Value and Opportunistic Moralism' and 'Resurrecting Biological Essentialism'

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


9 ideas

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 10. Essence as Species
Essentialism concerns the nature of a group, not its category [Devitt]
Things that gradually change, like species, can still have essences [Devitt]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche
When the soul is intelligent and harmonious, it is part of god and derives from god [Plutarch]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
The works we value most are in sympathy with our own moral views [John,E]
We should understand what is morally important in a story, without having to endorse it [John,E]
We value morality in art because that is what we care about - but it is a contingent fact [John,E]
A work can be morally and artistically excellent, despite rejecting moral truth [John,E]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 5. Species
We name species as small to share properties, but large enough to yield generalisations [Devitt]
Species are phenetic, biological, niche, or phylogenetic-cladistic [Devitt, by PG]