123 ideas
| 21979 | Wisdom emerges at the end of a process [Hegel] |
| 22766 | Philosophy is exploration of the rational [Hegel] |
| 12865 | Analytic philosophers may prefer formal systems because natural language is such mess [Simons] |
| 22768 | Subjective and objective are not firmly opposed, but merge into one another [Hegel] |
| 18491 | The idea of 'making' can be mere conceptual explanation (like 'because') [Künne] |
| 12815 | Classical mereology doesn't apply well to the objects around us [Simons] |
| 12832 | Complement: the rest of the Universe apart from some individual, written x-bar [Simons] |
| 12834 | Criticisms of mereology: parts? transitivity? sums? identity? four-dimensional? [Simons] |
| 12819 | A 'part' has different meanings for individuals, classes, and masses [Simons] |
| 12822 | Proper or improper part: x < y, 'x is (a) part of y' [Simons] |
| 12824 | Disjoint: two individuals are disjoint iff they do not overlap, written 'x | y' [Simons] |
| 12827 | Difference: the difference of individuals is the remainder of an overlap, written 'x - y' [Simons] |
| 12823 | Overlap: two parts overlap iff they have a part in common, expressed as 'x o y' [Simons] |
| 12825 | Product: the product of two individuals is the sum of all of their overlaps, written 'x · y' [Simons] |
| 12826 | Sum: the sum of individuals is what is overlapped if either of them are, written 'x + y' [Simons] |
| 12828 | General sum: the sum of objects satisfying some predicate, written σx(Fx) [Simons] |
| 12829 | General product: the nucleus of all objects satisfying a predicate, written πx(Fx) [Simons] |
| 12830 | Universe: the mereological sum of all objects whatever, written 'U' [Simons] |
| 12831 | Atom: an individual with no proper parts, written 'At x' [Simons] |
| 12844 | Dissective: stuff is dissective if parts of the stuff are always the stuff [Simons] |
| 12813 | Two standard formalisations of part-whole theory are the Calculus of Individuals, and Mereology [Simons] |
| 12821 | The part-relation is transitive and asymmetric (and thus irreflexive) [Simons] |
| 18847 | Each wheel is part of a car, but the four wheels are not a further part [Simons] |
| 12816 | Classical mereology doesn't handle temporal or modal notions very well [Simons] |
| 12846 | A 'group' is a collection with a condition which constitutes their being united [Simons] |
| 12848 | The same members may form two groups [Simons] |
| 12861 | 'The wolves' are the matter of 'the pack'; the latter is a group, with different identity conditions [Simons] |
| 12876 | Philosophy is stuck on the Fregean view that an individual is anything with a proper name [Simons] |
| 12845 | Some natural languages don't distinguish between singular and plural [Simons] |
| 22772 | Personality overcomes subjective limitations and posits Dasein as its own [Hegel] |
| 12838 | Four-dimensional ontology has no change, since that needs an object, and time to pass [Simons] |
| 12842 | There are real relational changes, as well as bogus 'Cambridge changes' [Simons] |
| 12841 | I don't believe in processes [Simons] |
| 12836 | Fans of process ontology cheat, since river-stages refer to 'rivers' [Simons] |
| 12880 | Moments are things like smiles or skids, which are founded on other things [Simons] |
| 12883 | Moving disturbances are are moments which continuously change their basis [Simons] |
| 12881 | A smiling is an event with causes, but the smile is a continuant without causes [Simons] |
| 12882 | A wave is maintained by a process, but it isn't a process [Simons] |
| 12840 | I do not think there is a general identity condition for events [Simons] |
| 12839 | Relativity has an ontology of things and events, not on space-time diagrams [Simons] |
| 12879 | Independent objects can exist apart, and maybe even entirely alone [Simons] |
| 12847 | Mass nouns admit 'much' and 'a little', and resist 'many' and 'few'. [Simons] |
| 12863 | Mass terms (unlike plurals) are used with indifference to whether they can exist in units [Simons] |
| 12862 | Gold is not its atoms, because the atoms must be all gold, but gold contains neutrons [Simons] |
| 12859 | A mixture can have different qualities from its ingredients. [Simons] |
| 12858 | Mixtures disappear if nearly all of the mixture is one ingredient [Simons] |
| 12850 | To individuate something we must pick it out, but also know its limits of variation [Simons] |
| 12860 | Sortal nouns for continuants tell you their continuance- and cessation-conditions [Simons] |
| 12886 | A whole requires some unique relation which binds together all of the parts [Simons] |
| 12857 | Tibbles isn't Tib-plus-tail, because Tibbles can survive its loss, but the sum can't [Simons] |
| 12835 | Does Tibbles remain the same cat when it loses its tail? [Simons] |
| 12820 | Without extensional mereology two objects can occupy the same position [Simons] |
| 12866 | Composition is asymmetric and transitive [Simons] |
| 12867 | A hand constitutes a fist (when clenched), but a fist is not composed of an augmented hand [Simons] |
| 12864 | We say 'b is part of a', 'b is a part of a', 'b are a part of a', or 'b are parts of a'. [Simons] |
| 12814 | Classical mereology says there are 'sums', for whose existence there is no other evidence [Simons] |
| 12817 | 'Mereological extensionality' says objects with the same parts are identical [Simons] |
| 12833 | If there are c atoms, this gives 2^c - 1 individuals, so there can't be just 2 or 12 individuals [Simons] |
| 12849 | Sums are more plausible for pluralities and masses than they are for individuals [Simons] |
| 12877 | Sums of things in different categories are found within philosophy. [Simons] |
| 12888 | The wholeness of a melody seems conventional, but of an explosion it seems natural [Simons] |
| 12871 | Objects have their essential properties because of the kind of objects they are [Simons] |
| 12870 | We must distinguish the de dicto 'must' of propositions from the de re 'must' of essence [Simons] |
| 12873 | Original parts are the best candidates for being essential to artefacts [Simons] |
| 12874 | An essential part of an essential part is an essential part of the whole [Simons] |
| 12837 | Four dimensional-objects are stranger than most people think [Simons] |
| 12856 | Intermittent objects would be respectable if they occurred in nature, as well as in artefacts [Simons] |
| 12885 | Objects like chess games, with gaps in them, are thereby less unified [Simons] |
| 12854 | An entrepreneur and a museum curator would each be happy with their ship at the end [Simons] |
| 12855 | The 'best candidate' theories mistakenly assume there is one answer to 'Which is the real ship?' [Simons] |
| 12872 | The zygote is an essential initial part, for a sexually reproduced organism [Simons] |
| 12889 | The limits of change for an individual depend on the kind of individual [Simons] |
| 22780 | It is a rejection of intellectual dignity to say that we cannot know the truth [Hegel] |
| 22770 | A person is a being which is aware of its own self-directed and free subjectivity [Hegel] |
| 22788 | A human only become a somebody as a member of a social estate [Hegel] |
| 22792 | Individuals attain their right by discovering their self-consciousness in institutions [Hegel] |
| 21780 | A free will primarily wills its own freedoom [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 12843 | With activities if you are doing it you've done it, with performances you must finish to have done it [Simons] |
| 22769 | The concept of the will is the free will which wills its freedom [Hegel] |
| 21787 | Evil enters a good will when we believe we are doing right, but allow no criticism of our choice [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 12875 | One false note doesn't make it a performance of a different work [Simons] |
| 21786 | Conscience is the right of the self to know what is right and obligatory, and thus make them true [Hegel] |
| 22784 | Love is ethical life in its natural form [Hegel] |
| 8029 | You can't have a morality which is supplied by the individual, but is also genuinely universal [Hegel, by MacIntyre] |
| 22771 | Be a person, and respect other persons [Hegel] |
| 22051 | The categorical imperative lacks roots in a historical culture [Hegel, by Bowie] |
| 22781 | The categorical imperative is fine if you already have a set of moral principles [Hegel] |
| 22779 | The good is realised freedom [Hegel] |
| 22787 | The family is the first basis of the state, but estates are a necessary second [Hegel] |
| 22790 | We cannot assert rights which are unnatural [Hegel] |
| 22767 | I aim to portray the state as a rational entity [Hegel] |
| 22789 | Society draws people, and requires their work, making them wholly dependent on it [Hegel] |
| 22791 | The state is the march of God in the world [Hegel] |
| 22778 | Individuals can't leave the state, because they are natural citizens, and humans require a state [Hegel] |
| 22794 | A fully developed state is conscious and knows what it wills [Hegel] |
| 22799 | The people do not have the ability to know the general will [Hegel] |
| 22801 | The great man of the ages is the one who reveals and accomplishes the will of his time [Hegel] |
| 22796 | A constitution embodies a nation's rights and condition [Hegel] |
| 22777 | Individuals must dedicate themselves to the ethical whole, and give their lives when asked [Hegel] |
| 21791 | Social groups must focus on the state, which must in turn respect their inclusion and their will [Hegel] |
| 22795 | People can achieve respect for their state by insight into its essence [Hegel] |
| 21988 | In the 1840s Hegel seemed to defend society being right as it is, as a manifestation of Mind [Hegel, by Singer] |
| 22800 | Majority rule means obligations can be imposed on me [Hegel] |
| 21792 | The state should reflect all interests, and not just popular will, or a popular party [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 22797 | In modern states an individual's actions should be their choice [Hegel] |
| 21790 | Moral individuals become ethical when they see the social aspect of a matter [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 8030 | For Hegel, the moral life can only be led within a certain type of community [Hegel, by MacIntyre] |
| 22785 | Even educated women are unsuited to science, philosophy, art and government [Hegel] |
| 21789 | Slaves have no duties because they have no rights [Hegel] |
| 22776 | Slaves are partly responsible for their own condition [Hegel] |
| 21778 | True liberal freedom is to pursue something, while being free to cease the pursuit [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 21779 | People assume they are free, but the options available are not under their control [Hegel] |
| 22085 | Freedom requires us to submit to a family, or a corporation, or a state [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 22798 | Money is the best way to achieve just equality [Hegel] |
| 22783 | Rights imply duties, and duties imply rights [Hegel] |
| 21782 | Man has an absolute right to appropriate things [Hegel] |
| 22773 | Because only human beings can own property, everything else can become our property [Hegel] |
| 22774 | A community does not have the property-owning rights that a person has [Hegel] |
| 22775 | The owner of a thing is obviously the first person to freely take possession of it [Hegel] |
| 22802 | Wars add strength to a nation, and cure internal dissension [Hegel] |
| 22786 | Children need discipline, to break their self-will and eradicate sensuousness [Hegel] |
| 22782 | To have pagan beliefs and be a pagan are quite different [Hegel] |
| 22793 | Some religions lead to harsh servitude and the debasement of human beings [Hegel] |