28 ideas
13939 | No possible evidence could decide the reality of numbers, so it is a pseudo-question [Carnap] |
6806 | Do not multiply entities beyond necessity [William of Ockham] |
13936 | Questions about numbers are answered by analysis, and are analytic, and hence logically true [Carnap] |
8748 | Logical positivists incorporated geometry into logicism, saying axioms are just definitions [Carnap, by Shapiro] |
8960 | Internal questions about abstractions are trivial, and external ones deeply problematic [Carnap, by Szabó] |
5311 | If observation goes up a level, we expect the laws of the lower level to remain in force [Wilson,EO] |
13933 | Existence questions are 'internal' (within a framework) or 'external' (concerning the whole framework) [Carnap] |
13934 | To be 'real' is to be an element of a system, so we cannot ask reality questions about the system itself [Carnap] |
13938 | A linguistic framework involves commitment to entities, so only commitment to the framework is in question [Carnap] |
22132 | Species and genera are individual concepts which naturally signify many individuals [William of Ockham] |
5312 | A child first sees objects as distinct, and later as members of groups [Wilson,EO] |
13935 | We only accept 'things' within a language with formation, testing and acceptance rules [Carnap] |
5309 | Beliefs are really enabling mechanisms for survival [Wilson,EO] |
13932 | Empiricists tend to reject abstract entities, and to feel sympathy with nominalism [Carnap] |
13937 | New linguistic claims about entities are not true or false, but just expedient, fruitful or successful [Carnap] |
13940 | All linguistic forms in science are merely judged by their efficiency as instruments [Carnap] |
5310 | Philosophers study the consequences of ethics instead of its origins [Wilson,EO] |
5313 | The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature' [Wilson,EO] |
5316 | We undermine altruism by rewarding it, but we reward it to encourage it [Wilson,EO] |
5318 | Pure hard-core altruism based on kin selection is the enemy of civilisation [Wilson,EO] |
5317 | The actor is most convincing who believes that his performance is real [Wilson,EO] |
5308 | The only human purpose is that created by our genetic history [Wilson,EO] |
19381 | The past has ceased to exist, and the future does not yet exist, so time does not exist [William of Ockham] |
5314 | Cultural evolution is Lamarckian and fast, biological evolution is Darwinian and slow [Wilson,EO] |
5315 | Over 99 percent of human evolution has been in the hunter-gatherer phase [Wilson,EO] |
8010 | William of Ockham is the main spokesman for God's commands being the source of morality [William of Ockham] |
16679 | Even an angel must have some location [William of Ockham, by Pasnau] |
5320 | It is estimated that mankind has produced 100,000 religions [Wilson,EO] |