53 ideas
3600 | Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress [Descartes] |
3601 | Most things in human life seem vain and useless [Descartes] |
3602 | Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher [Descartes] |
3603 | Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic [Descartes, by PG] |
3612 | Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists [Descartes] |
3610 | Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure [Descartes] |
18194 | 'Forcing' can produce new models of ZFC from old models [Maddy] |
18195 | A Large Cardinal Axiom would assert ever-increasing stages in the hierarchy [Maddy] |
18191 | Axiom of Infinity: completed infinite collections can be treated mathematically [Maddy] |
18193 | The Axiom of Foundation says every set exists at a level in the set hierarchy [Maddy] |
18169 | Axiom of Reducibility: propositional functions are extensionally predicative [Maddy] |
18168 | 'Propositional functions' are propositions with a variable as subject or predicate [Maddy] |
18171 | Cantor and Dedekind brought completed infinities into mathematics [Maddy] |
18190 | Completed infinities resulted from giving foundations to calculus [Maddy] |
18175 | For any cardinal there is always a larger one (so there is no set of all sets) [Maddy] |
18196 | An 'inaccessible' cardinal cannot be reached by union sets or power sets [Maddy] |
18172 | Infinity has degrees, and large cardinals are the heart of set theory [Maddy] |
18187 | Theorems about limits could only be proved once the real numbers were understood [Maddy] |
18182 | The extension of concepts is not important to me [Maddy] |
18177 | In the ZFC hierarchy it is impossible to form Frege's set of all three-element sets [Maddy] |
18164 | Frege solves the Caesar problem by explicitly defining each number [Maddy] |
18163 | Mathematics rests on the logic of proofs, and on the set theoretic axioms [Maddy] |
18185 | Unified set theory gives a final court of appeal for mathematics [Maddy] |
18183 | Set theory brings mathematics into one arena, where interrelations become clearer [Maddy] |
18186 | Identifying geometric points with real numbers revealed the power of set theory [Maddy] |
18184 | Making set theory foundational to mathematics leads to very fruitful axioms [Maddy] |
18188 | The line of rationals has gaps, but set theory provided an ordered continuum [Maddy] |
18204 | Scientists posit as few entities as possible, but set theorist posit as many as possible [Maddy] |
18207 | Maybe applications of continuum mathematics are all idealisations [Maddy] |
18167 | We can get arithmetic directly from HP; Law V was used to get HP from the definition of number [Maddy] |
18205 | The theoretical indispensability of atoms did not at first convince scientists that they were real [Maddy] |
3605 | We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it [Descartes] |
12899 | The timid student has knowledge without belief, lacking confidence in their correct answer [Lewis] |
1583 | In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology [Roochnik on Descartes] |
12897 | To say S knows P, but cannot eliminate not-P, sounds like a contradiction [Lewis] |
3607 | In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain [Descartes] |
3617 | I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind [Descartes] |
3611 | Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge [Descartes] |
12898 | Justification is neither sufficient nor necessary for knowledge [Lewis] |
3606 | I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand [Descartes] |
12895 | Knowing is context-sensitive because the domain of quantification varies [Lewis, by Cohen,S] |
19562 | We have knowledge if alternatives are eliminated, but appropriate alternatives depend on context [Lewis, by Cohen,S] |
3604 | When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings [Descartes] |
3618 | Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations [Descartes] |
3615 | Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all [Descartes] |
18206 | Science idealises the earth's surface, the oceans, continuities, and liquids [Maddy] |
3609 | I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support [Descartes] |
3608 | I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence [Descartes] |
3613 | Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs [Descartes] |
3616 | The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations [Descartes] |
3614 | A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation [Descartes] |
1581 | Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them [Descartes] |
16686 | God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us [Descartes] |