Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Metaphysical conseqs of principle of reason' and 'The Approach to Metaphysics'

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4 ideas

1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 4. Metaphysics as Science

14799	Metaphysics rests on observations, but ones so common we hardly notice them [Peirce]
	Full Idea: Metaphysics really rests on observations, whether consciously or not. The only reason this is not recognised is that it rests upon kinds of phenomena with which every man's experience is so saturated that he pays no particular attention to them.
	From: Charles Sanders Peirce (The Approach to Metaphysics [1898], p.311)
	A reaction: I think this is entirely right. I would say that the only thing that distinguishes metaphysical thought is its extreme level of generality, which makes it very hard to substantiate, because it is so remote from its evidential base.

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / c. Monads

5060	All substances analyse down to simple substances, which are souls, or 'monads' [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: What (in the analysis of substances) exist ultimately are simple substances - namely, souls, or, if you prefer a more general terms, 'monads', which are without parts.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (Metaphysical conseqs of principle of reason [1712], §7)
	A reaction: This seems to me to be atomistic panpsychism. He is opposed to physical atomism, because infinite divisibility seems obvious, but unity is claimed to be equally obvious in the world of the mental. Does this mean bricks are made of souls? Odd.

21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality

468	Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.]
	Full Idea: In singing and playing the lyre, a boy will be likely to reveal not only courage and moderation, but also justice.
	From: Damon (fragments/reports [c.460 BCE], B4), quoted by (who?) - where?

26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 3. Final causes

5059	Power rules in efficient causes, but wisdom rules in connecting them to final causes [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: In all of nature efficient causes correspond to final causes, because everything proceeds from a cause which is not only powerful, but wise; and with the rule of power through efficient causes, there is involved the rule of wisdom through final causes.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (Metaphysical conseqs of principle of reason [1712], §5)
	A reaction: Nowadays this carrot-and-stick view of causation is unfashionable, but I won't rule it out. The deepest 'why?' we can ask won't just go away. This unity by a divine mind strikes me as too simple, but Leibniz is right to try to unify Aristotelian causes.