Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Properties and Predicates' and 'What is innate and why'

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10 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / d. Non-being
18933 Not-Being obviously doesn't exist, and the five modes of Being are all impossible [Gorgias, by Diog. Laertius]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 2. Need for Properties
8568 A property is merely a constituent of laws of nature; temperature is just part of thermodynamics [Mellor]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 10. Properties as Predicates
8564 There is obviously a possible predicate for every property [Mellor]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 2. Need for Universals
8566 We need universals for causation and laws of nature; the latter give them their identity [Mellor]
8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 3. Predicate Nominalism
8565 If properties were just the meanings of predicates, they couldn't give predicates their meaning [Mellor]
18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 4. Language of Thought
2605 If everything uses mentalese, ALL concepts must be innate! [Putnam]
2606 No machine language can express generalisations [Putnam]
19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric
9866 Gorgias says rhetoric is the best of arts, because it enslaves without using force [Gorgias, by Plato]
5864 Destroy seriousness with laughter, and laughter with seriousness [Gorgias]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / e. Probabilistic causation
8567 Singular causation requires causes to raise the physical probability of their effects [Mellor]