Ideas of José A. Benardete, by Theme

[American, fl. 1992, Taught at Syracuse University.]

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1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 1. Nature of Metaphysics

3358	Metaphysics focuses on Platonism, essentialism, materialism and anti-realism

1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 5. Linguistic Analysis

3312	There are the 'is' of predication (a function), the 'is' of identity (equals), and the 'is' of existence (quantifier)

1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 7. Limitations of Analysis

3352	Analytical philosophy analyses separate concepts successfully, but lacks a synoptic vision of the results

1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 1. Aims of Science

3329	Presumably the statements of science are true, but should they be taken literally or not?

4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 1. Set Theory

3326	Set theory attempts to reduce the 'is' of predication to mathematics

3327	The set of Greeks is included in the set of men, but isn't a member of it

4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 4. Axioms for Sets / a. Axioms for sets

3335	The standard Z-F Intuition version of set theory has about ten agreed axioms [PG]

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry

3332	Greeks saw the science of proportion as the link between geometry and arithmetic

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / b. Types of number

3330	Negatives, rationals, irrationals and imaginaries are all postulated to solve baffling equations

3337	Natural numbers are seen in terms of either their ordinality (Peano), or cardinality (set theory)

7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 4. Events / a. Nature of events

3310	If slowness is a property of walking rather than the walker, we must allow that events exist

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 8. Stuff / a. Pure stuff

12793

Early pre-Socratics had a mass-noun ontology, which was replaced by count-nouns

8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / d. Forms critiques

3353	If there is no causal interaction with transcendent Platonic objects, how can you learn about them?

9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 5. Composition of an Object

3304	Why should packed-together particles be a thing (Mt Everest), but not scattered ones?

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 6. Essence as Unifier

3350	Could a horse lose the essential property of being a horse, and yet continue to exist?

9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 2. Objects that Change

3309	If a soldier continues to exist after serving as a soldier, does the wind cease to exist after it ceases to blow?

9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 8. Continuity of Rivers

3351	One can step into the same river twice, but not into the same water

9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 5. Self-Identity

3314	Absolutists might accept that to exist is relative, but relative to what? How about relative to itself?

3323	Maybe self-identity isn't existence, if Pegasus can be self-identical but non-existent

12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 1. Nature of the A Priori

3306	The clearest a priori knowledge is proving non-existence through contradiction

12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 5. A Priori Synthetic

3345	Appeals to intuition seem to imply synthetic a priori knowledge

3341	Logical positivism amounts to no more than 'there is no synthetic a priori'

3344	Assertions about existence beyond experience can only be a priori synthetic

3349	If we know truths about prime numbers, we seem to have synthetic a priori knowledge of Platonic objects

27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 3. Points in Space

3334	Rationalists see points as fundamental, but empiricists prefer regions

28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof

3308	In the ontological argument a full understanding of the concept of God implies a contradiction in 'There is no God'