70 ideas
8093 | Seek wisdom rather than truth; it is easier [Joubert] |
13466 | We are all post-Kantians, because he set the current agenda for philosophy [Hart,WD] |
8095 | We must think with our entire body and soul [Joubert] |
13477 | The problems are the monuments of philosophy [Hart,WD] |
8107 | The love of certainty holds us back in metaphysics [Joubert] |
14092 | Philosophers are often too fussy about words, dismissing perfectly useful ordinary terms [Rosen] |
13515 | To study abstract problems, some knowledge of set theory is essential [Hart,WD] |
8099 | The truths of reason instruct, but they do not illuminate [Joubert] |
14100 | Figuring in the definition of a thing doesn't make it a part of that thing [Rosen] |
8098 | Truth consists of having the same idea about something that God has [Joubert] |
13469 | Tarski showed how we could have a correspondence theory of truth, without using 'facts' [Hart,WD] |
13504 | Truth for sentences is satisfaction of formulae; for sentences, either all sequences satisfy it (true) or none do [Hart,WD] |
13503 | A first-order language has an infinity of T-sentences, which cannot add up to a definition of truth [Hart,WD] |
13500 | Conditional Proof: infer a conditional, if the consequent can be deduced from the antecedent [Hart,WD] |
13502 | ∃y... is read as 'There exists an individual, call it y, such that...', and not 'There exists a y such that...' [Hart,WD] |
13456 | Set theory articulates the concept of order (through relations) [Hart,WD] |
13497 | Nowadays ZFC and NBG are the set theories; types are dead, and NF is only useful for the whole universe [Hart,WD] |
13443 | ∈ relates across layers, while ⊆ relates within layers [Hart,WD] |
13442 | Without the empty set we could not form a∩b without checking that a and b meet [Hart,WD] |
13493 | In the modern view, foundation is the heart of the way to do set theory [Hart,WD] |
13495 | Foundation Axiom: an nonempty set has a member disjoint from it [Hart,WD] |
13462 | With the Axiom of Choice every set can be well-ordered [Hart,WD] |
13461 | We can choose from finite and evident sets, but not from infinite opaque ones [Hart,WD] |
13516 | If we accept that V=L, it seems to settle all the open questions of set theory [Hart,WD] |
13441 | Naïve set theory has trouble with comprehension, the claim that every predicate has an extension [Hart,WD] |
13494 | The iterative conception may not be necessary, and may have fixed points or infinitely descending chains [Hart,WD] |
13460 | 'Well-ordering' must have a least member, so it does the natural numbers but not the integers [Hart,WD] |
13458 | A partial ordering becomes 'total' if any two members of its field are comparable [Hart,WD] |
13457 | A 'partial ordering' is irreflexive and transitive; the sets are ordered, but not the subsets [Hart,WD] |
13490 | Von Neumann defines α<β as α∈β [Hart,WD] |
13481 | Maybe sets should be rethought in terms of the even more basic categories [Hart,WD] |
13506 | The universal quantifier can't really mean 'all', because there is no universal set [Hart,WD] |
13513 | Models are ways the world might be from a first-order point of view [Hart,WD] |
13505 | Model theory studies how set theory can model sets of sentences [Hart,WD] |
13511 | Model theory is mostly confined to first-order theories [Hart,WD] |
13512 | Modern model theory begins with the proof of Los's Conjecture in 1962 [Hart,WD] |
13496 | First-order logic is 'compact': consequences of a set are consequences of a finite subset [Hart,WD] |
14096 | Explanations fail to be monotonic [Rosen] |
13484 | Berry's Paradox: we succeed in referring to a number, with a term which says we can't do that [Hart,WD] |
13482 | The Burali-Forti paradox is a crisis for Cantor's ordinals [Hart,WD] |
13507 | The machinery used to solve the Liar can be rejigged to produce a new Liar [Hart,WD] |
13459 | The less-than relation < well-orders, and partially orders, and totally orders the ordinal numbers [Hart,WD] |
13463 | There are at least as many infinite cardinals as transfinite ordinals (because they will map) [Hart,WD] |
13491 | The axiom of infinity with separation gives a least limit ordinal ω [Hart,WD] |
13492 | Von Neumann's ordinals generalise into the transfinite better, because Zermelo's ω is a singleton [Hart,WD] |
13446 | 19th century arithmetization of analysis isolated the real numbers from geometry [Hart,WD] |
13509 | We can establish truths about infinite numbers by means of induction [Hart,WD] |
13474 | Euclid has a unique parallel, spherical geometry has none, and saddle geometry has several [Hart,WD] |
13471 | Mathematics makes existence claims, but philosophers usually say those are never analytic [Hart,WD] |
14097 | Things could be true 'in virtue of' others as relations between truths, or between truths and items [Rosen] |
13488 | Mass words do not have plurals, or numerical adjectives, or use 'fewer' [Hart,WD] |
14095 | Facts are structures of worldly items, rather like sentences, individuated by their ingredients [Rosen] |
14093 | An 'intrinsic' property is one that depends on a thing and its parts, and not on its relations [Rosen] |
14094 | The excellent notion of metaphysical 'necessity' cannot be defined [Rosen] |
14101 | Are necessary truths rooted in essences, or also in basic grounding laws? [Rosen] |
13480 | Fregean self-evidence is an intrinsic property of basic truths, rules and definitions [Hart,WD] |
13476 | The failure of key assumptions in geometry, mereology and set theory throw doubt on the a priori [Hart,WD] |
8101 | To know is to see inside oneself [Joubert] |
8094 | The imagination has made more discoveries than the eye [Joubert] |
8103 | A thought is as real as a cannon ball [Joubert] |
8100 | Where does the bird's idea of a nest come from? [Joubert] |
13475 | The Fregean concept of GREEN is a function assigning true to green things, and false to the rest [Hart,WD] |
14099 | 'Bachelor' consists in or reduces to 'unmarried' male, but not the other way around [Rosen] |
8096 | He gives his body up to pleasure, but not his soul [Joubert] |
8104 | What will you think of pleasures when you no longer enjoy them? [Joubert] |
8097 | Virtue is hard if we are scorned; we need support [Joubert] |
8106 | In raising a child we must think of his old age [Joubert] |
14098 | An acid is just a proton donor [Rosen] |
8105 | We can't exactly conceive virtue without the idea of God [Joubert] |
8102 | We cannot speak against Christianity without anger, or speak for it without love [Joubert] |