95 ideas
17016 | Philosophy must abstract from the senses [Newton] |
9161 | Maybe reasonableness requires circular justifications - that is one coherentist view [Field,H] |
10825 | The notion of truth is to help us make use of the utterances of others [Field,H] |
10820 | In the early 1930s many philosophers thought truth was not scientific [Field,H] |
13499 | Tarski reduced truth to reference or denotation [Field,H, by Hart,WD] |
10818 | Tarski really explained truth in terms of denoting, predicating and satisfied functions [Field,H] |
10817 | Tarski just reduced truth to some other undefined semantic notions [Field,H] |
9570 | In Field's Platonist view, set theory is false because it asserts existence for non-existent things [Field,H, by Chihara] |
10260 | Logical consequence is defined by the impossibility of P and ¬q [Field,H, by Shapiro] |
10819 | Tarski gives us the account of truth needed to build a group of true sentences in a model [Field,H] |
10827 | Model theory is unusual in restricting the range of the quantifiers [Field,H] |
9226 | If mathematical theories conflict, it may just be that they have different subject matter [Field,H] |
18079 | Newton developed a kinematic approach to geometry [Newton, by Kitcher] |
13152 | We can talk of 'innumerable number', about the infinite points on a line [Newton] |
8958 | In Field's version of science, space-time points replace real numbers [Field,H, by Szabó] |
13151 | Not all infinites are equal [Newton] |
18082 | Quantities and ratios which continually converge will eventually become equal [Newton] |
18221 | 'Metric' axioms uses functions, points and numbers; 'synthetic' axioms give facts about space [Field,H] |
17783 | A number is not a multitude, but a unified ratio between quantities [Newton] |
8757 | The Indispensability Argument is the only serious ground for the existence of mathematical entities [Field,H] |
18212 | Nominalists try to only refer to physical objects, or language, or mental constructions [Field,H] |
10261 | The application of mathematics only needs its possibility, not its truth [Field,H, by Shapiro] |
18218 | Hilbert explains geometry, by non-numerical facts about space [Field,H] |
9623 | Field needs a semantical notion of second-order consequence, and that needs sets [Brown,JR on Field,H] |
18215 | It seems impossible to explain the idea that the conclusion is contained in the premises [Field,H] |
18216 | Abstractions can form useful counterparts to concrete statements [Field,H] |
18214 | Mathematics is only empirical as regards which theory is useful [Field,H] |
8714 | Fictionalists say 2+2=4 is true in the way that 'Oliver Twist lived in London' is true [Field,H] |
18210 | Why regard standard mathematics as truths, rather than as interesting fictions? [Field,H] |
18211 | You can reduce ontological commitment by expanding the logic [Field,H] |
8959 | Field presumes properties can be eliminated from science [Field,H, by Szabó] |
17011 | I suspect that each particle of bodies has attractive or repelling forces [Newton] |
18213 | Abstract objects are only applicable to the world if they are impure, and connect to the physical [Field,H] |
17028 | Particles mutually attract, and cohere at short distances [Newton] |
17014 | The place of a thing is the sum of the places of its parts [Newton] |
9160 | Lots of propositions are default reasonable, but the a priori ones are empirically indefeasible [Field,H] |
9164 | We treat basic rules as if they were indefeasible and a priori, with no interest in counter-evidence [Field,H] |
9165 | Reliability only makes a rule reasonable if we place a value on the truth produced by reliable processes [Field,H] |
9162 | Believing nothing, or only logical truths, is very reliable, but we want a lot more than that [Field,H] |
9166 | People vary in their epistemological standards, and none of them is 'correct' [Field,H] |
17546 | If you changed one of Newton's concepts you would destroy his whole system [Heisenberg on Newton] |
9163 | If we only use induction to assess induction, it is empirically indefeasible, and hence a priori [Field,H] |
17027 | Science deduces propositions from phenomena, and generalises them by induction [Newton] |
18222 | Beneath every extrinsic explanation there is an intrinsic explanation [Field,H] |
17022 | We should admit only enough causes to explain a phenomenon, and no more [Newton] |
17021 | Natural effects of the same kind should be assumed to have the same causes [Newton] |
17026 | From the phenomena, I can't deduce the reason for the properties of gravity [Newton] |
10826 | 'Valence' and 'gene' had to be reduced to show their compatibility with physicalism [Field,H] |
9917 | 'Abstract' is unclear, but numbers, functions and sets are clearly abstract [Field,H] |
22244 | 'Partial reference' is when the subject thinks two objects are one object [Field,H, by Recanati] |
7615 | Field says reference is a causal physical relation between mental states and objects [Field,H, by Putnam] |
20239 | Unlike us, the early Greeks thought envy was a good thing, and hope a bad thing [Hesiod, by Nietzsche] |
6421 | Newton's four fundamentals are: space, time, matter and force [Newton, by Russell] |
13470 | Mass is central to matter [Newton, by Hart,WD] |
17020 | An attraction of a body is the sum of the forces of their particles [Newton] |
23012 | Newtonian causation is changes of motion resulting from collisions [Newton, by Baron/Miller] |
8404 | Explain single events by general rules, or vice versa, or probability explains both, or they are unconnected [Field,H] |
8401 | Physical laws are largely time-symmetric, so they make a poor basis for directional causation [Field,H] |
8400 | Identifying cause and effect is not just conventional; we explain later events by earlier ones [Field,H] |
8402 | The only reason for adding the notion of 'cause' to fundamental physics is directionality [Field,H] |
15863 | The principles of my treatise are designed to fit with a belief in God [Newton] |
16746 | Principles of things are not hidden features of forms, but the laws by which they were formed [Newton] |
8340 | I do not pretend to know the cause of gravity [Newton] |
17008 | You have discovered that elliptical orbits result just from gravitation and planetary movement [Newton, by Leibniz] |
17010 | We have given up substantial forms, and now aim for mathematical laws [Newton] |
17023 | I am not saying gravity is essential to bodies [Newton] |
17009 | I won't object if someone shows that gravity consistently arises from the action of matter [Newton] |
13150 | The motions of the planets could only derive from an intelligent agent [Newton] |
12178 | That gravity should be innate and essential to matter is absurd [Newton] |
15866 | Newton reclassified vertical motion as violent, and unconstrained horizontal motion as natural [Newton, by Harré] |
15958 | Inertia rejects the Aristotelian idea of things having natural states, to which they return [Newton, by Alexander,P] |
17017 | 1: Bodies rest, or move in straight lines, unless acted on by forces [Newton] |
17019 | 3: All actions of bodies have an equal and opposite reaction [Newton] |
17018 | 2: Change of motion is proportional to the force [Newton] |
20968 | Newton's Third Law implies the conservation of momentum [Newton, by Papineau] |
17547 | Newton's idea of force acting over a long distance was very strange [Heisenberg on Newton] |
20966 | Newton introduced forces other than by contact [Newton, by Papineau] |
20967 | Newton's laws cover the effects of forces, but not their causes [Newton, by Papineau] |
16708 | Newton's forces were accused of being the scholastics' real qualities [Pasnau on Newton] |
13153 | I am studying the quantities and mathematics of forces, not their species or qualities [Newton] |
12724 | The aim is to discover forces from motions, and use forces to demonstrate other phenomena [Newton] |
13593 | Newton showed that falling to earth and orbiting the sun are essentially the same [Newton, by Ellis] |
20969 | Early Newtonians could not formulate conservation of energy, having no concept of potential energy [Newton, by Papineau] |
18223 | In theories of fields, space-time points or regions are causal agents [Field,H] |
18220 | Both philosophy and physics now make substantivalism more attractive [Field,H] |
17013 | Absolute space is independent, homogeneous and immovable [Newton] |
18219 | Relational space is problematic if you take the idea of a field seriously [Field,H] |
22915 | Newton needs intervals of time, to define velocity and acceleration [Newton, by Le Poidevin] |
22893 | Newton thought his laws of motion needed absolute time [Newton, by Bardon] |
17012 | Time exists independently, and flows uniformly [Newton] |
14012 | Absolute time, from its own nature, flows equably, without relation to anything external [Newton] |
22954 | Newtonian mechanics does not distinguish negative from positive values of time [Newton, by Coveney/Highfield] |
17015 | If there is no uniform motion, we cannot exactly measure time [Newton] |
17025 | If a perfect being does not rule the cosmos, it is not God [Newton] |
17024 | The elegance of the solar system requires a powerful intellect as designer [Newton] |