classics digests, reflections and reviews
I wish Hume had taken Philosophy 101, with an emphasis on Logic, from Aristotle. That thought crossed my mind many times when reading the Enquiry. Hume should have known that Aristotle have defined long before him many ideas he had difficulty expressing. He could have saved himself some trouble reinventing the wheel. The reader could have saved some time clearing away the rubble of logical inconsistencies. They rather obscure Hume’s […]
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One way that’s kind of a fun analogy to try to get some idea of what we’re doing in trying to understand nature is to imagine that the gods are playing some great game like chess. Let’s say a chess game. And you don’t know the rules of the game, but you’re allowed to look at the board at least from time to time and in a little corner, perhaps. […]
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The Meaning of Reality I’ve learned since childhood that reality is what exists independently of human perception and knowledge. We gain knowledge of reality if and only if our ideas correspond to it. Fantasy is that which has no correspondence in reality, and exists only in the mind of an individual. Unless he communicates his fantasy, others have no way of knowing it. George Berkeley shows a different way of […]
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N: Cartesius, ever since I read your treatise “Meditations on First Philosophy: In which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated”, I’ve wished to meet you in person and discuss the subjects in detail. C: Is that why you imagined this conversation with me? N: Unfortunately, I have no power of imagination, with which you are abundantly gifted. C: Nemo, you’re gifted with the faculty […]
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