Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Cratylus', 'Causation and the Flow of Energy' and 'On Human Nature'

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33 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
13786 Wisdom is called 'beautiful', because it performs fine works [Plato]
1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People
13780 Good people are no different from wise ones [Plato]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic
13778 A dialectician is someone who knows how to ask and to answer questions [Plato]
3. Truth / C. Correspondence Truth / 1. Correspondence Truth
13776 Truths say of what is that it is, falsehoods say of what is that it is not [Plato]
5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / a. Names
13777 A name is a sort of tool [Plato]
13790 A name-giver might misname something, then force other names to conform to it [Plato]
13791 Things must be known before they are named, so it can't be the names that give us knowledge [Plato]
5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / c. Names as referential
13789 Anyone who knows a thing's name also knows the thing [Plato]
7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 1. Nature of Change
2063 How can beauty have identity if it changes? [Plato]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 3. Levels of Reality
5311 If observation goes up a level, we expect the laws of the lower level to remain in force [Wilson,EO]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation
13775 We only succeed in cutting if we use appropriate tools, not if we approach it randomly [Plato]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 5. Universals as Concepts
5312 A child first sees objects as distinct, and later as members of groups [Wilson,EO]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / d. Individuation by haecceity
13787 Doesn't each thing have an essence, just as it has other qualities? [Plato]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 3. Individual Essences
13774 Things don't have every attribute, and essence isn't private, so each thing has an essence [Plato]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism
13772 Is the being or essence of each thing private to each person? [Plato]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 7. Indiscernible Objects
13788 If we made a perfect duplicate of Cratylus, there would be two Cratyluses [Plato]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / a. Beliefs
5309 Beliefs are really enabling mechanisms for survival [Wilson,EO]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 1. Scepticism
13792 There can't be any knowledge if things are constantly changing [Plato]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche
13781 Soul causes the body to live, and gives it power to breathe and to be revitalized [Plato]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / d. Ethical theory
5310 Philosophers study the consequences of ethics instead of its origins [Wilson,EO]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
5313 The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature' [Wilson,EO]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / f. Altruism
5316 We undermine altruism by rewarding it, but we reward it to encourage it [Wilson,EO]
5318 Pure hard-core altruism based on kin selection is the enemy of civilisation [Wilson,EO]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 1. Contractarianism
5317 The actor is most convincing who believes that his performance is real [Wilson,EO]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / a. Nature of virtue
13785 'Arete' signifies lack of complexity and a free-flowing soul [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / c. Purpose denied
5308 The only human purpose is that created by our genetic history [Wilson,EO]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 4. Naturalised causation
8326 Science has shown that causal relations are just transfers of energy or momentum [Fair, by Sosa/Tooley]
10379 Fair shifted his view to talk of counterfactuals about energy flow [Fair, by Schaffer,J]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution
5314 Cultural evolution is Lamarckian and fast, biological evolution is Darwinian and slow [Wilson,EO]
5315 Over 99 percent of human evolution has been in the hunter-gatherer phase [Wilson,EO]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 5. Species
13779 The natural offspring of a lion is called a 'lion' (but what about the offspring of a king?) [Plato]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature
13783 Even the gods love play [Plato]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / a. Religious Belief
5320 It is estimated that mankind has produced 100,000 religions [Wilson,EO]