Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Anaxarchus, Pierre Hadot and Einstein,A/Infeld,L

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5 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 6. Hopes for Philosophy

9198	It is no longer possible to be a sage, but we can practice the exercise of wisdom [Hadot]
	Full Idea: Personally I firmly believe, perhaps naively, that it is possible for modern man to live, not as a sage (sophos) - most of the ancients did not hold this to be possible - but as a practitioner of the ever-fragile exercise of wisdom.
	From: Pierre Hadot (Philosophy as a way of life [1987], 7)
	A reaction: It seems to me quite plausible that the philosophical life might yet become a widespread ideal, even though philosophers seem to still be sheltering from storms two thousand years after Plato gave us that image.

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 2. Logos

9197	The logos represents a demand for universal rationality [Hadot]
	Full Idea: The logos represents a demand for universal rationality.
	From: Pierre Hadot (Philosophy as a way of life [1987], 3.3)
	A reaction: That is at one end of the spectrum. At the other, in parts of 'Theaetetus', it is just a polite request to be given a few reasons, instead of a splattering of hopes and prejudices.

13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 1. Scepticism

3061	Anaxarchus said that he was not even sure that he knew nothing [Anaxarchus, by Diog. Laertius]
	Full Idea: Anaxarchus said that he was not even sure that he knew nothing.
	From: report of Anaxarchus (fragments/reports [c.340 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.10.1

22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / b. Types of pleasure

9196	The pleasure of existing is the only genuine pleasure [Hadot]
	Full Idea: For epicureans, the only genuine pleasure there is is the pleasure of existing.
	From: Pierre Hadot (Philosophy as a way of life [1987], 3.1)
	A reaction: I don't know Hadot's source for this claim, but it is a nice idea, which I shall endeavour to incorporate into my own attitude to daily living. I'm not quite clear, though, why the pleasure of music is not a 'genuine' one.

27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 2. Electrodynamics / b. Fields

18202	The concept of a field gradually replaced the substances in explaining relations between charges [Einstein/Infeld]
	Full Idea: In the beginning the field concept was no more than a means of facilitating the understanding of phenomena. ...In the new field language it is the field and not the charges themselves which is essential. The substance was overshadowed by the field.
	From: Einstein,A/Infeld,L (The Evolution of Physics [1938], p.151), quoted by Penelope Maddy - Naturalism in Mathematics II.4
	A reaction: This is very important for philosophical metaphysicians, especially those like me who want to explain the universe by the nature of the stuff that composes it. The 'stuff' had better not be simplistic individual 'substances'.