13 ideas
21642 | If quantification is all substitutional, there is no ontology [Quine] |
1633 | Absolute ontological questions are meaningless, because the answers are circular definitions [Quine] |
18964 | Ontology is relative to both a background theory and a translation manual [Quine] |
18965 | We know what things are by distinguishing them, so identity is part of ontology [Quine] |
7401 | Heat and colour don't exist, so cannot mislead about the external world [Galileo, by Tuck] |
5454 | Tastes, odours and colours only reside in consciousness, and would disappear with creatures [Galileo] |
1634 | Two things are relative - the background theory, and translating the object theory into the background theory [Quine] |
16560 | Galileo introduced geometrico-mechanical explanation, based on Archimedes [Galileo, by Machamer/Darden/Craver] |
8470 | Reference is inscrutable, because we cannot choose between theories of numbers [Quine, by Orenstein] |
18963 | Indeterminacy translating 'rabbit' depends on translating individuation terms [Quine] |
13304 | Learned men gain more in one day than others do in a lifetime [Posidonius] |
3645 | To understand the universe mathematics is essential [Galileo] |
20820 | Time is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed [Posidonius, by Stobaeus] |