Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'A Discourse on Method', 'The Case for Contextualism' and 'The German Ideology'

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52 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress [Descartes]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined
Philosophy is no more than abstractions concerning observations of human historical development [Marx/Engels]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
Most things in human life seem vain and useless [Descartes]
Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher [Descartes]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 4. Aims of Reason
Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic [Descartes, by PG]
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 4. Circularity
Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists [Descartes]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 8. Subjective Truth
Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure [Descartes]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 6. Physicalism
Philosophical problems are resolved into empirical facts [Marx/Engels]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / a. Beliefs
We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it [Descartes]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty
In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology [Roochnik on Descartes]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain [Descartes]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 6. A Priori from Reason
I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind [Descartes]
12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism
Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge [Descartes]
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / a. Foundationalism
I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand [Descartes]
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 5. Coherentism / a. Coherence as justification
A contextualist coherentist will say that how strongly a justification must cohere depends on context [DeRose]
13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 6. Contextual Justification / a. Contextualism
Classical invariantism combines fixed truth-conditions with variable assertability standards [DeRose]
We can make contextualism more precise, by specifying the discrimination needed each time [DeRose]
In some contexts there is little more to knowledge than true belief. [DeRose]
Contextualists worry about scepticism, but they should focus on the use of 'know' in ordinary speech [DeRose]
13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 6. Contextual Justification / b. Invariantism
If contextualism is about knowledge attribution, rather than knowledge, then it is philosophy of language [DeRose]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 6. Scepticism Critique
When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings [Descartes]
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 3. Experiment
Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations [Descartes]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 7. Animal Minds
Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all [Descartes]
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / a. Consciousness
'Society determines consciousness' is contradictory; society only exists in minds [Weil on Marx/Engels]
Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life [Marx/Engels]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 3. Self as Non-physical
I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support [Descartes]
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 1. Dualism
I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence [Descartes]
Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs [Descartes]
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 2. Interactionism
The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations [Descartes]
18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 6. Artificial Thought / c. Turing Test
A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation [Descartes]
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 3. Meaning as Speaker's Intention
Language co-exists with consciousness, and makes it social [Marx/Engels]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
The nature of an individual coincides with what they produce and how they produce it [Marx/Engels]
Consciousness is a social product [Marx/Engels]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / d. Virtue theory critique
Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them [Descartes]
When aristocracy or the bourgeoisie dominate, certain values dominate with them [Marx/Engels]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self
Young Hegelians proposed changing our present consciousness for liberating critical consciousness [Marx/Engels]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
Producing their own subsistence distinguishes men from animals [Marx/Engels]
Men distinguish themselves from animals when they begin to produce their means of subsistence [Marx/Engels]
Individuals are mutually hostile unless they group together in competition with other groups [Marx/Engels]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 7. Communitarianism / a. Communitarianism
Only in community are people able to cultivate their gifts, and therefore be free [Marx/Engels]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 9. Communism
Young Hegelians think consciousness is chains for men, where old Hegelians think it the bond of society [Marx/Engels]
In communist society we are not trapped in one activity, but can act freely [Marx/Engels]
If the common interest imposes on the individual, his actions become alienated and enslaving [Marx/Engels]
The class controlling material production also controls mental production [Marx/Engels]
The revolutionary class is opposed to 'class', and represents all of society [Marx/Engels]
To assert themselves as individuals, the proletarians must overthrow the State [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
Slavery cannot be abolished without the steam-engine [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 4. Free market
Communism abolishes private property and dissolves the powerful world market [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights
The law says private property is the result of the general will [Marx/Engels]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / d. Study of history
Human history must always be studied in relation to industry and exchange [Marx/Engels]
Most historians are trapped in the illusions of their own epoch [Marx/Engels]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 7. Strictness of Laws
God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us [Descartes]