Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Reflections on my Critics', 'The Principles of Chemistry' and 'Five Milestones of Empiricism'

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


12 ideas

2. Reason / D. Definition / 7. Contextual Definition
Contextual definition shifted the emphasis from words to whole sentences [Quine]
Bentham's contextual definitions preserved terms after their denotation became doubtful [Quine]
3. Truth / H. Deflationary Truth / 2. Deflationary Truth
'Truth' may only apply within a theory [Kuhn]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 1. Empiricism
In scientific theories sentences are too brief to be independent vehicles of empirical meaning [Quine]
Empiricism improvements: words for ideas, then sentences, then systems, then no analytic, then naturalism [Quine]
14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 1. Scientific Theory
Kuhn came to accept that all scientists agree on a particular set of values [Kuhn, by Bird]
14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 5. Commensurability
In theory change, words shift their natural reference, so the theories are incommensurable [Kuhn]
19. Language / E. Analyticity / 4. Analytic/Synthetic Critique
Holism in language blurs empirical synthetic and empty analytic sentences [Quine]
27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 4. Standard Model / a. Concept of matter
Mendeleev saw three principles in nature: matter, force and spirit (where the latter seems to be essence) [Mendeleev, by Scerri]
27. Natural Reality / F. Chemistry / 2. Modern Elements
Elements don't survive in compounds, but the 'substance' of the element does [Mendeleev]
27. Natural Reality / F. Chemistry / 3. Periodic Table
Mendeleev focused on abstract elements, not simple substances, so he got to their essence [Mendeleev, by Scerri]
Mendeleev had a view of elements which allowed him to overlook some conflicting observations [Mendeleev]