Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Properties' and 'talk'

expand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these texts

40 ideas

2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 6. Ockham's Razor
4036 What matters is not how many entities we postulate, but how many kinds of entities [Armstrong, by Mellor/Oliver]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic
20768 Like spiderswebs, dialectical arguments are clever but useless [Ariston, by Diog. Laertius]
5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 5. Functions in Logic
15105 F(x) walked into a bar. The barman said.. [Sommers,W]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / d. Non-being
12408 Sartre to Waitress: Coffee with no cream, please... [Sommers,W]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 4. Anti-realism
12397 Said Plato: 'The things that we feel... [Sommers,W]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 2. Need for Properties
15754 Without properties we would be unable to express the laws of nature [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 10. Properties as Predicates
4034 Whether we apply 'cold' or 'hot' to an object is quite separate from its change of temperature [Armstrong]
8535 To the claim that every predicate has a property, start by eliminating failure of application of predicate [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 13. Tropes / a. Nature of tropes
8537 Tropes fall into classes, because exact similarity is symmetrical and transitive [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 13. Tropes / b. Critique of tropes
8538 Trope theory needs extra commitments, to symmetry and non-transitivity, unless resemblance is exact [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 2. Need for Universals
8539 Universals are required to give a satisfactory account of the laws of nature [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 1. Nominalism / c. Nominalism about abstracta
8529 Deniers of properties and relations rely on either predicates or on classes [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 2. Resemblance Nominalism
8532 Resemblances must be in certain 'respects', and they seem awfully like properties [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 3. Predicate Nominalism
8530 Change of temperature in objects is quite independent of the predicates 'hot' and 'cold' [Armstrong]
8536 We want to know what constituents of objects are grounds for the application of predicates [Armstrong]
8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 5. Class Nominalism
8531 In most sets there is no property common to all the members [Armstrong]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism
15753 Essences might support Resemblance Nominalism, but they are too coarse and ill-defined [Armstrong]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 5. Cogito Critique
12407 Barman to Descartes: Would you like another drink?... [Sommers,W]
12399 There was a young student called Fred... [Sommers,W]
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 2. Phenomenalism
20963 A philosopher and his wife are out for a drive... [Sommers,W]
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / c. Empirical idealism
12409 The philosopher Berkeley once said.. [Sommers,W]
12404 Dear Sir, Your astonishment's odd.... [Sommers,W]
12403 There once was a man who said: 'God... [Sommers,W]
12402 ..But if he's a student of Berkeley... [Sommers,W]
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 1. Perception
14694 "My dog's got synaesthesia." How does he smell? ..... [Sommers,W]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 1. Scepticism
12401 A toper who spies in the distance... [Sommers,W]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 6. Determinism / a. Determinism
12410 There once was a man who said 'Damn!... [Sommers,W]
17. Mind and Body / B. Behaviourism / 4. Behaviourism Critique
9392 How do behaviourists greet each other? [Sommers,W]
19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 3. Predicates
8533 Predicates need ontological correlates to ensure that they apply [Armstrong]
4035 There must be some explanation of why certain predicates are applicable to certain objects [Armstrong]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / f. The Mean
3049 The chief good is indifference to what lies midway between virtue and vice [Ariston, by Diog. Laertius]
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 1. Deontology
3549 Ariston says rules are useless for the virtuous and the non-virtuous [Ariston, by Annas]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / d. Elites
12405 'If you're aristocratic,' said Nietzsche... [Sommers,W]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 2. Anarchism
9391 Why do anarchists drink herbal tea? [Sommers,W]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / a. Constant conjunction
12400 Cries the maid: 'You must marry me Hume!'... [Sommers,W]
16527 Causation - we all thought we knew it/ Till Hume came along and saw through it/…. [Sommers,W]
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 4. Regularities / a. Regularity theory
8540 The introduction of sparse properties avoids the regularity theory's problem with 'grue' [Armstrong]
8541 Regularities theories are poor on causal connections, counterfactuals and probability [Armstrong]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / c. Idealist time
17592 The barman called 'Time!', and Augustine said..... [Sommers,W]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / c. Tenses and time
15208 The past, present and future walked into a bar.... [Sommers,W]