|
15063
|
Some sentences depend for their truth on worldly circumstances, and others do not [Fine,K]
|
|
Full Idea:
There is a distinction between worldly and unworldly sentences, between sentences that depend for their truth upon the worldly circumstances and those that do not.
|
|
From:
Kit Fine (Necessity and Non-Existence [2005], Intro)
|
|
A reaction:
Fine is fishing around in the area between the necessary, the a priori, truthmakers, and truth-conditions. He appears to be attempting a singlehanded reconstruction of the concepts of metaphysics. Is he major, or very marginal?
|
|
15072
|
Bottom level facts are subject to time and world, middle to world but not time, and top to neither [Fine,K]
|
|
Full Idea:
At the bottom are tensed or temporal facts, subject to the vicissitudes of time and hence of the world. Then come the timeless though worldly facts, subject to the world but not to time. Top are transcendental facts, subject to neither world nor time.
|
|
From:
Kit Fine (Necessity and Non-Existence [2005], 08)
|
|
A reaction:
For all of Fine's awesome grasp of logic and semantics, when he divides reality up as boldly as this I start to side a bit with the sceptics about modern metaphysics (like Ladyman and Ross). I daresay Fine acknowledges that it is 'speculative'.
|
|
15071
|
Tensed and tenseless sentences state two sorts of fact, which belong to two different 'realms' of reality [Fine,K]
|
|
Full Idea:
A tensed fact is stated by a tensed sentence while a tenseless fact is stated by a tenseless sentence, and they belong to two 'realms' of reality. That Socrates drank hemlock is in the temporal realm, while 2+2=4 is presumably in the timeless realm.
|
|
From:
Kit Fine (Necessity and Non-Existence [2005], 07)
|
|
A reaction:
Put so strongly, I suddenly find sales resistance to his proposal. All my instincts favour one realm, and I take 2+2=4 to be a highly general truth about that realm. It may be a truth of any possible realm, which would distinguish it.
|
|
15075
|
Modal features are not part of entities, because they are accounted for by the entity [Fine,K]
|
|
Full Idea:
It is natural to suggest that to be a man is to have certain kind of temporal-modal profile. ...but it seems natural that being a man accounts for the profile, ...so one should not appeal to an object's modal features in stating what the object is.
|
|
From:
Kit Fine (Necessity and Non-Existence [2005], 09)
|
|
A reaction:
This strikes me as a correct and very helpful point, as I am tempted to think that the modal dispositions of a thing are intrinsic to its identity. If we accept 'powers', must they be modal in character? Fine backs a sortal approach. That's ideology.
|
|
15073
|
Self-identity should have two components, its existence, and its neutral identity with itself [Fine,K]
|
|
Full Idea:
The existential identity of an object with itself needs analysis into two components, one the neutral identity of the object with itself, and the other its existence. The existence of the object appears to be merely a gratuitous addition to its identity.
|
|
From:
Kit Fine (Necessity and Non-Existence [2005], 08)
|
|
A reaction:
This is at least a step towards clarification of the notion, which might be seen as just a way of asserting that something 'has an identity'. Fine likes the modern Fregean way of expressing this, as an equality relation.
|
|
15069
|
Possible worlds may be more limited, to how things might actually turn out [Fine,K]
|
|
Full Idea:
An alternative conception of a possible world says it is constituted, not by the totality of facts, or of how things might be, but by the totality of circumstances, or how things might turn out.
|
|
From:
Kit Fine (Necessity and Non-Existence [2005], 02)
|
|
A reaction:
The general idea is to make a possible world more limited than in Idea 15068. It only contains properties arising from 'engagement with the world', and won't include timeless sentences. It is a bunch of possibilities, not of actualities?
|
|
7339
|
Because human life is what is sacred, Mosaic law has no death penalty for property violations [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
Where other codes provided the death penalty for offences against property, in Mosaic law no property offence is capital; human life is too sacred, where the rights of property alone are violated.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt I)
|
|
A reaction:
We still preserve this idea in our law, and also in our culture, where we are keen to insist that catastrophes like earthquakes or major fires are measured almost entirely by the loss of life, not the loss of property. I approve.
|
|
7353
|
The Pharisees undermined slavery, by giving slaves responsibility and status in law courts [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
It is no accident that slavery among Jews disappeared with the rise of the Pharisees, as they insisted that all were equal before God in a court. Masters were no longer responsible for actions of slaves, so a slave had status, and slavery could not work.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
|
|
A reaction:
As in seventeenth century England, the rise of social freedom comes from religious sources, not social sources. A slave has status in the transcendent world of souls, despite being a nobody in the physical world.
|
|
7340
|
Mosaic law was the first to embody the rule of law, and equality before the law [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
Mosaic law meant that God ruled through his laws, and since all were equally subject to the law, the system was the first to embody the double merits of the rule of law and equality before the law.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt I)
|
|
A reaction:
If this is correct, it seems to be a hugely important step, combined with Idea 1659, that revenge should be the action of a the state, not of the individual. They are the few simple and essential keys to civilization.
|
|
7338
|
Man's life is sacred, because it is made in God's image [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
In Mosaic theology, man is made in God's image, and so his life is not just valuable, it is sacred.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt I)
|
|
A reaction:
The obvious question is what exactly is meant by "in God's image". Physically, spiritually, intellectually, morally? I am guessing that the original idea was intellectual, because we are the only rational animal. The others seem unlikely, or arrogant.
|
|
7336
|
A key moment is the idea of a single moral God, who imposes his morality on humanity [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
The discovery of monotheism, and not just of monotheism but of a sole, omnipotent God actuated by ethical principles and seeking methodically to impose them on human beings, is one of the greatest turning-points in history, perhaps the greatest of all.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt I)
|
|
A reaction:
'Discovery' begs some questions, but when put like this you realise what a remarkable event it was. It is a good candidate for the most influential idea ever, even if large chunks of humanity, especially in the orient, never took to monotheism.
|
|
7341
|
Sampson illustrates the idea that religious heroes often begin as outlaws and semi-criminals [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
Sampson is the outstanding example of the point which the Book of Judges makes again and again, that the Lord and society are often served by semi-criminal types, outlaws and misfits, who become folk-heroes and then religious heroes.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt I)
|
|
A reaction:
This illustrates nicely Nietzsche's claim, that the jews were responsible for his 'inversion of values', in which aristocratic virtues are downgraded, and the virtues of a good slave are elevated (though Sampson may not show that point so well!).
|
|
7355
|
The Torah pre-existed creation, and was its blueprint [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
The Torah was not just a book about God. It pre-existed creation, in the same way as God did. In fact, it was the blueprint of creation.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt III)
|
|
A reaction:
You can only become a 'people of the book' (which Moslems resented in Judaism, and then emulated) if you give this stupendously high status to your book. Hence Christian fundamentalism makes sense, with its emphasis on the divinity of the Bible.
|
|
7344
|
Judaism involves circumcision, Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, New Year, and Atonement [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
The practices of Judaism developed during their Exile: circumcision, the Sabbath, the Passover (founding of the nation), Pentecost (giving of the laws), the Tabernacles, the New Year, and the Day of Atonement.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
|
|
A reaction:
These were the elements of ritual created to replace the existence of a physically located state. An astonishing achievement, not even remotely achieved by any other state that was driven off its lands. A culture is an idea, not a country.
|
|
7347
|
Zoroastrians believed in one eternal beneficent being, Creator through the holy spirit [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
Cyrus the Great was a Zoroastrian, believing in one, eternal, beneficent being, 'Creator of all things through the holy spirit'.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
|
|
A reaction:
Is this the actual origin of monotheism, or did they absorb this idea from the Jews? The interesting bit is the fact that the supreme being (called Marduk) is 'beneficent', which one doesn't associate with these remote and supposed pagans.
|
|
7349
|
Immortality based on judgement of merit was developed by the Egyptians (not the Jews) [Johnson,P]
|
|
Full Idea:
The idea of judgement at death and immortality on the basis of merit were developed in Egypt before 1000 BCE. It is not Jewish because it was not in the Torah, and the Sadducees, who stuck to their texts, seemed to have denied the afterlife completely.
|
|
From:
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
|
|
A reaction:
This is the idea considered crucial to religion by Immanuel Kant (Idea 1455), who should be declared an honorary Egyptian. To me the idea that only the good go to heaven sounds like sadly wishful thinking - a fictional consolation for an unhappy life.
|