35 ideas
23326 | In the third century Stoicism died out, replaced by Platonism, with Aristotelian ethics [Frede,M] |
23335 | In late antiquity nearly all philosophers were monotheists [Frede,M] |
16137 | Earlier views of Aristotle were dominated by 'Categories' [Frede,M] |
23249 | The early philosophers thought that reason has its own needs and desires [Frede,M] |
3750 | "It is true that x" means no more than x [Ramsey] |
13430 | Infinity: there is an infinity of distinguishable individuals [Ramsey] |
13428 | Reducibility: to every non-elementary function there is an equivalent elementary function [Ramsey] |
13427 | Either 'a = b' vacuously names the same thing, or absurdly names different things [Ramsey] |
13334 | Contradictions are either purely logical or mathematical, or they involved thought and language [Ramsey] |
6409 | The 'simple theory of types' distinguishes levels among properties [Ramsey, by Grayling] |
13426 | Formalists neglect content, but the logicists have focused on generalizations, and neglected form [Ramsey] |
13425 | Formalism is hopeless, because it focuses on propositions and ignores concepts [Ramsey] |
8495 | The distinction between particulars and universals is a mistake made because of language [Ramsey] |
8493 | We could make universals collections of particulars, or particulars collections of their qualities [Ramsey] |
8494 | Obviously 'Socrates is wise' and 'Socrates has wisdom' express the same fact [Ramsey] |
594 | Speusippus suggested underlying principles for every substance, and ended with a huge list [Speussipus, by Aristotle] |
16157 | Insurance on the original ship would hardly be paid out if the plank version was wrecked! [Frede,M] |
13766 | 'If' is the same as 'given that', so the degrees of belief should conform to probability theory [Ramsey, by Ramsey] |
10993 | Ramsey's Test: believe the consequent if you believe the antecedent [Ramsey, by Read] |
14279 | Asking 'If p, will q?' when p is uncertain, then first add p hypothetically to your knowledge [Ramsey] |
3212 | Beliefs are maps by which we steer [Ramsey] |
22328 | I just confront the evidence, and let it act on me [Ramsey] |
22325 | A belief is knowledge if it is true, certain and obtained by a reliable process [Ramsey] |
19724 | Belief is knowledge if it is true, certain, and obtained by a reliable process [Ramsey] |
6894 | Mental terms can be replaced in a sentence by a variable and an existential quantifier [Ramsey] |
19143 | Ramsey gave axioms for an uncertain agent to decide their preferences [Ramsey, by Davidson] |
23333 | The idea of free will achieved universal acceptance because of Christianity [Frede,M] |
23337 | The Stoics needed free will, to allow human choices in a divinely providential cosmos [Frede,M] |
23334 | For Christians man has free will by creation in God's image (as in Genesis) [Frede,M] |
18818 | Sentence meaning is given by the actions to which it would lead [Ramsey] |
23336 | There is no will for Plato or Aristotle, because actions come directly from perception of what is good [Frede,M] |
9418 | All knowledge needs systematizing, and the axioms would be the laws of nature [Ramsey] |
9420 | Causal laws result from the simplest axioms of a complete deductive system [Ramsey] |
2632 | Speusippus said things were governed by some animal force rather than the gods [Speussipus, by Cicero] |
23313 | The Gnostic demiurge (creator) is deluded, and doesn't care about us [Frede,M] |