Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Reply to First Objections' and 'Explanation: the state of play'

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9 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / d. Non-being
Not-Being obviously doesn't exist, and the five modes of Being are all impossible [Gorgias, by Diog. Laertius]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / b. Aims of explanation
Explanation is for curiosity, control, understanding, to make meaningful, or to give authority [Stanford]
Audience-relative explanation, or metaphysical explanation based on information? [Stanford]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / j. Explanations by reduction
We can explain by showing constitution, as well as showing causes [Stanford]
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 2. Unconscious Mind
I can't be unaware of anything which is in me [Descartes]
19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric
Gorgias says rhetoric is the best of arts, because it enslaves without using force [Gorgias, by Plato]
Destroy seriousness with laughter, and laughter with seriousness [Gorgias]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 5. Existence-Essence
Essence must be known before we discuss existence [Descartes]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / a. Cosmological Proof
We can't prove a first cause from our inability to grasp infinity [Descartes]