56 ideas
7490 | Because of Darwin, wisdom as a definite attainable state has faded [Watson] |
7461 | The three key ideas are the soul, Europe, and the experiment [Watson] |
7464 | The big idea: imitation, the soul, experiments, God, heliocentric universe, evolution? [Watson] |
7465 | Babylonian thinking used analogy, rather than deduction or induction [Watson] |
5824 | How can an expression be a name, if names can change their denotation? [Evans] |
9038 | We must distinguish what the speaker denotes by a name, from what the name denotes [Evans] |
9042 | A private intention won't give a name a denotation; the practice needs it to be made public [Evans] |
9041 | The Causal Theory of Names is wrong, since the name 'Madagascar' actually changed denotation [Evans] |
7466 | Mesopotamian numbers applied to specific things, and then became abstract [Watson] |
16129 | Evans argues (falsely!) that a contradiction follows from treating objects as vague [Evans, by Lowe] |
16459 | Is it coherent that reality is vague, identities can be vague, and objects can have fuzzy boundaries? [Evans] |
16460 | Evans assumes there can be vague identity statements, and that his proof cannot be right [Evans, by Lewis] |
16457 | There clearly are vague identity statements, and Evans's argument has a false conclusion [Evans, by Lewis] |
14484 | If a=b is indeterminate, then a=/=b, and so there cannot be indeterminate identity [Evans, by Thomasson] |
16224 | There can't be vague identity; a and b must differ, since a, unlike b, is only vaguely the same as b [Evans, by PG] |
14895 | 'Superficial' contingency: false in some world; 'Deep' contingency: no obvious verification [Evans, by Macià/Garcia-Carpentiro] |
11881 | Rigid designators can be meaningful even if empty [Evans, by Mackie,P] |
7639 | The Homunculus Fallacy explains a subject perceiving objects by repeating the problem internally [Evans] |
7643 | We have far fewer colour concepts than we have discriminations of colour [Evans] |
12580 | Experiences have no conceptual content [Evans, by Greco] |
20657 | There are 23 core brain functions, with known circuit, transmitters, genes and behaviour [Watson] |
20656 | Traditional ideas of the mind were weakened in the 1950s by mind-influencing drugs [Watson] |
23794 | Some representational states, like perception, may be nonconceptual [Evans, by Schulte] |
16366 | The Generality Constraint says if you can think a predicate you can apply it to anything [Evans] |
12575 | Concepts have a 'Generality Constraint', that we must know how predicates apply to them [Evans, by Peacocke] |
5825 | Speakers intend to refer to items that are the source of their information [Evans] |
5823 | The intended referent of a name needs to be the cause of the speaker's information about it [Evans] |
9039 | If descriptions are sufficient for reference, then I must accept a false reference if the descriptions fit [Evans] |
9043 | We use expressions 'deferentially', to conform to the use of other people [Evans] |
9040 | Charity should minimize inexplicable error, rather than maximising true beliefs [Evans] |
20655 | Humans have been hunter-gatherers for 99.5% of their existence [Watson] |
7477 | Modern democracy is actually elective oligarchy [Watson] |
7478 | Greek philosophers invented the concept of 'nature' as their special subject [Watson] |
20650 | The Uncertainty Principle implies that cause and effect can't be measured [Watson] |
20649 | The interference of light through two slits confirmed that it is waves [Watson] |
20661 | Electrons rotate in hyrogen atoms 10^13 times per second [Watson] |
20647 | Quantum theory explains why nature is made up of units, such as elements [Watson] |
20654 | Only four particles are needed for matter: up and down quark, electron, electron-neutrino [Watson] |
20651 | The shape of molecules is important, as well as the atoms and their bonds [Watson] |
20652 | In 1828 the animal substance urea was manufactured from inorganic ingredients [Watson] |
20658 | Information is physical, and living can be seen as replicating and preserving information [Watson] |
7462 | DNA mutation suggests humans and chimpanzees diverged 6.6 million years ago [Watson] |
7470 | During the rise of civilizations, the main gods changed from female to male [Watson] |
3029 | Stilpo said if Athena is a daughter of Zeus, then a statue is only the child of a sculptor, and so is not a god [Stilpo, by Diog. Laertius] |
7474 | Hinduism has no founder, or prophet, or creed, or ecclesiastical structure [Watson] |
7479 | Modern Judaism became stabilised in 200 CE [Watson] |
7481 | The Israelites may have asserted the uniqueness of Yahweh to justify land claims [Watson] |
7480 | Monotheism was a uniquely Israelite creation within the Middle East [Watson] |
7471 | The Gathas (hymns) of Zoroastrianism date from about 1000 BCE [Watson] |
7473 | Zoroaster conceived the afterlife, judgement, heaven and hell, and the devil [Watson] |
7483 | Paul's early writings mention few striking episodes from Jesus' life [Watson] |
7484 | Jesus never intended to start a new religion [Watson] |
7475 | Confucius revered the spiritual world, but not the supernatural, or a personal god, or the afterlife [Watson] |
7476 | Taoism aims at freedom from the world, the body, the mind, and nature [Watson] |
7463 | The three basic ingredients of religion are: the soul, seers or priests, and ritual [Watson] |
7468 | In ancient Athens the souls of the dead are received by the 'upper air' [Watson] |