Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The Sentiment of Rationality' and 'Intro to 'Essays on Actions and Events''

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24 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
22659 It is wisdom to believe what you desire, because belief is needed to achieve it [James]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
22657 All good philosophers start from a dumb conviction about which truths can be revealed [James]
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 3. Metaphysical Systems
22647 A complete system is just a classification of the whole world's ingredients [James]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 5. Objectivity
22648 A single explanation must have a single point of view [James]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 6. Ockham's Razor
22644 Our greatest pleasure is the economy of reducing chaotic facts to one single fact [James]
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]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation
22649 Classification can only ever be for a particular purpose [James]
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 1. Observation
22655 Scientific genius extracts more than other people from the same evidence [James]
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 6. Falsification
22658 Experimenters assume the theory is true, and stick to it as long as result don't disappoint [James]
14. Science / C. Induction / 3. Limits of Induction
22654 We can't know if the laws of nature are stable, but we must postulate it or assume it [James]
14. Science / C. Induction / 6. Bayes's Theorem
22656 Trying to assess probabilities by mere calculation is absurd and impossible [James]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / j. Explanations by reduction
22646 We have a passion for knowing the parts of something, rather than the whole [James]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / b. Purpose of mind
22652 The mind has evolved entirely for practical interests, seen in our reflex actions [James]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 7. Animal Minds
22651 Dogs' curiosity only concerns what will happen next [James]
17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 5. Causal Argument
6383 Cause unites our picture of the universe; without it, mental and physical will separate [Davidson]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / a. Rationality
22650 How can the ground of rationality be itself rational? [James]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / b. Human rationality
22643 It seems that we feel rational when we detect no irrationality [James]
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]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / d. Weakness of will
6385 The causally strongest reason may not be the reason the actor judges to be best [Davidson]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason
6384 The notion of cause is essential to acting for reasons, intentions, agency, akrasia, and free will [Davidson]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / d. Biological ethics
22660 Evolution suggests prevailing or survival as a new criterion of right and wrong [James]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / d. Selecting the cause
22645 Understanding by means of causes is useless if they are not reduced to a minimum number [James]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / a. Christianity
22653 Early Christianity says God recognises the neglected weak and tender impulses [James]