19424
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Knowledge needs clarity, distinctness, and adequacy, and it should be intuitive [Leibniz]
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Full Idea:
Knowledge is either obscure or clear; clear ideas are either indistinct or distinct; distinct ideas are either adequate or inadequate, symbolic or intuitive; perfect knowledge is that which is both adequate and intuitive.
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From:
Gottfried Leibniz (Reflections on Knowledge, Truth and Ideas [1684], p.283)
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A reaction:
This is Leibniz's expansion of Descartes's idea that knowledge rests on 'clear and distinct conceptions'. The ultimate target seems to be close to an Aristotelian 'real definition', which is comprehensive and precise. Does 'intuitive' mean coherent?
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7071
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Life and rationality are pointless if we can only contemplate the freedom of our own ego [Jacobi]
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Full Idea:
If the highest upon which I can reflect, what I can contemplate, is my empty and pure, naked and mere ego, with its autonomy and freedom: then rational self-contemplation, then rationality is for me a curse - I deplore my existence.
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From:
Friedrich Jacobi (Letters to Fichte [1799], Ch.2), quoted by Simon Critchley - Continental Philosophy - V. Short Intro
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A reaction:
This is a rebellion against Fichte's interpretation of Kant. It is a lovely cry from the heart on behalf of everyone who resents lines of philosophical thinking that seem to imprison the mind and cut us off from the ordinary world and real life.
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19425
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In the schools the Four Causes are just lumped together in a very obscure way [Leibniz]
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Full Idea:
In the schools the four causes are lumped together as material, formal, efficient, and final causes, but they have no clear definitions, and I would call such a judgment 'obscure'.
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From:
Gottfried Leibniz (Reflections on Knowledge, Truth and Ideas [1684], p.283)
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A reaction:
He picks this to illustrate what he means by 'obscure', so he must feel strongly about it. Elsewhere Leibniz embraces efficient and final causes, but says little of the other two. This immediately become clearer as the Four Modes of Explanation.
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