Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Philosophical Insignificance of A Priori Knowledge' and 'Letters to Samuel Clarke'

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

22 ideas

1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 3. Scientism
13407 All worthwhile philosophy is synthetic theorizing, evaluated by experience [Papineau]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 2. Sufficient Reason
3646 There is always a reason why things are thus rather than otherwise [Leibniz]
2104 No reason could limit the quantity of matter, so there is no limit [Leibniz]
2098 The principle of sufficient reason is needed if we are to proceed from maths to physics [Leibniz]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / c. Monads
19385 All simply substances are in harmony, because they all represent the one universe [Leibniz]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / e. Ontological commitment problems
13409 Our best theories may commit us to mathematical abstracta, but that doesn't justify the commitment [Papineau]
8. Modes of Existence / A. Relations / 1. Nature of Relations
21346 The ratio between two lines can't be a feature of one, and cannot be in both [Leibniz]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 9. A Priori from Concepts
13406 A priori knowledge is analytic - the structure of our concepts - and hence unimportant [Papineau]
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 2. Intuition
13408 Intuition and thought-experiments embody substantial information about the world [Papineau]
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 5. Meaning as Verification
13410 Verificationism about concepts means you can't deny a theory, because you can't have the concept [Papineau]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / b. Education principles
13304 Learned men gain more in one day than others do in a lifetime [Posidonius]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / g. Atomism
2102 Atomism is irrational because it suggests that two atoms can be indistinguishable [Leibniz]
2106 The only simple things are monads, with no parts or extension [Leibniz]
2105 Things are infinitely subdivisible and contain new worlds, which atoms would make impossible [Leibniz]
27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 2. Thermodynamics / c. Conservation of energy
20965 Leibniz upheld conservations of momentum and energy [Leibniz, by Papineau]
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 4. Substantival Space
2103 The idea that the universe could be moved forward with no other change is just a fantasy [Leibniz]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / b. Relative time
2100 Space and time are purely relative [Leibniz]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / d. Time as measure
20820 Time is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed [Posidonius, by Stobaeus]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / i. Denying time
2107 No time exists except instants, and instants are not even a part of time, so time does not exist [Leibniz]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / a. Experience of time
2101 If everything in the universe happened a year earlier, there would be no discernible difference [Leibniz]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 5. God and Time
22894 If time were absolute that would make God's existence dependent on it [Leibniz, by Bardon]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / a. Cosmological Proof
2099 The existence of God, and all metaphysics, follows from the Principle of Sufficient Reason [Leibniz]