Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'works', 'Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology' and 'reports'

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24 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 2. Invocation to Philosophy
Diogenes said avoidance of philosophy is the lack of a desire to live properly [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 2. Possibility of Metaphysics
No possible evidence could decide the reality of numbers, so it is a pseudo-question [Carnap]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 6. Logicism / a. Early logicism
Questions about numbers are answered by analysis, and are analytic, and hence logically true [Carnap]
Logical positivists incorporated geometry into logicism, saying axioms are just definitions [Carnap, by Shapiro]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 4. Abstract Existence
Internal questions about abstractions are trivial, and external ones deeply problematic [Carnap, by Szabó]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 1. Ontologies
Existence questions are 'internal' (within a framework) or 'external' (concerning the whole framework) [Carnap]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 3. Reality
To be 'real' is to be an element of a system, so we cannot ask reality questions about the system itself [Carnap]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / a. Ontological commitment
A linguistic framework involves commitment to entities, so only commitment to the framework is in question [Carnap]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 6. Nihilism about Objects
We only accept 'things' within a language with formation, testing and acceptance rules [Carnap]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 1. Empiricism
Empiricists tend to reject abstract entities, and to feel sympathy with nominalism [Carnap]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 3. Pragmatism
New linguistic claims about entities are not true or false, but just expedient, fruitful or successful [Carnap]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 6. Scepticism Critique
When someone denied motion, Diogenes got up and walked away [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 3. Instrumentalism
All linguistic forms in science are merely judged by their efficiency as instruments [Carnap]
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 2. Unconscious Mind
Freud treats the unconscious as intentional and hence mental [Freud, by Searle]
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection
Freud and others have shown that we don't know our own beliefs, feelings, motive and attitudes [Freud, by Shoemaker]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / a. Nature of emotions
Freud said passions are pressures of some flowing hydraulic quantity [Freud, by Solomon]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / b. Intellectualism
Cynicism was open to anyone, and needed neither education nor sophistication [Diogenes of Sin., by Grayling]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
Diogenes said a plucked chicken fits Plato's definition of man [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
Freud is pessimistic about human nature; it is ambivalent motive and fantasy, rather than reason [Freud, by Murdoch]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / j. Ethics by convention
The Cynics rejected what is conventional as irrational, and aimed to live by nature [Taylor,R on Diogenes of Sin.]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness
For peace of mind, you need self-government, indifference and independence [Diogenes of Sin.]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship
Diogenes said he was a citizen of the world [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 2. Anarchism
Diogenes masturbated in public, wishing he could get rid of hunger so easily [Diogenes of Sin., by Plutarch]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 3. Free speech
Diogenes said that the most excellent thing among men was freedom of speech [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]