VII Notes
2010
Notes
[Sunday 7 November 2010 - Saturday 13 November 2010]
[Notebook: DB 70 Mathematical Theology]
Sunday 7 November 2010
[page 123]
Ross Gittins Sydney Morning Herald 8 November: 'Throughout its life the government has exhibited three related deficiencies: a lack of values, a lack of courage and a lack of skill in managing its relations with the electorate.'
'A more experienced leadership would understand that the best way to neutralize your opponents is to ignore them.'
[page 124]
Monday 8 November 2010
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Lowe, E J Why is there anything at all? Proc. Ar. Soc 70 111-120
Peter Van Inwagen: Metaphysics, The Big Questions, van Inwagen
David Armstrong: A combinatorial . . . 1989 CUP Armstrong
Thursday 11 November 2010
IRC Call for Papers: 'The Evolution of Morality and the Morality of Evolution' The purpose of morality is the prevention and correction of error. The evolutionary paradigm may be seen both as the source of creation and the source of all evil insofar as the shortage of resources is the driving force behind the search for the more efficient organization and use of resources and the tendency to chat by theft, murder, rape and so on.
Friday 12 November 2010
Saturday 13 November 2010
|
Copyright:
You may copy this material freely provided only that you quote fairly and provide a link (or reference) to your source.
Further reading
Books
Click on the "Amazon" link below each book entry to see details of a book (and possibly buy it!)
Armstrong, David, A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility, Cambridge University Press 1989 Amazon product description: 'David Armstrong's book is a contribution to the philosophical discussion about possible worlds. Taking Wittgenstein's Tractatus as his point of departure, Professor Armstrong argues that nonactual possibilities and possible worlds are recombinations of actually existing elements, and as such are useful fictions. There is an extended criticism of the alternative-possible-worlds approach championed by the American philosopher David Lewis. This major work will be read with interest by a wide range of philosophers.'
Amazon
back |
Armstrong, David, A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility, Cambridge University Press 1989 'David Armstrong's book is a contribution to the philosophical discussion about possible worlds. Taking Wittgenstein's Tractatus as his point of departure, Professor Armstrong argues that nonactual possibilities and possible worlds are recombinations of actually existing elements, and as such are useful fictions. There is an extended criticism of the alternative-possible-worlds approach championed by the American philosopher David Lewis. This major work will be read with interest by a wide range of philosophers.'
Amazon
back |
Newton, Isaac, and Julia Budenz, I. Bernard Cohen, Anne Whitman (Translators), The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, University of California Press 1999 This completely new translation, the first in 270 years, is based on the third (1726) edition, the final revised version approved by Newton; it includes extracts from the earlier editions, corrects errors found in earlier versions, and replaces archaic English with contemporary prose and up-to-date mathematical forms. ... The illuminating Guide to the Principia by I. Bernard Cohen, along with his and Anne Whitman's translation, will make this preeminent work truly accessible for today's scientists, scholars, and students.
Amazon
back |
van Inwagen, Peter, and Dean W Zimmerman, Metaphysics: The Big Questions (Philosophy: The Big Questions, Wiley-Blackwell 2008 Amazon Product Description
'This extensively revised and expanded edition of van Inwagen and Zimmerman’s popular collection of readings in metaphysics now features twenty-two additional selections, new sections on existence and reality, and an updated editorial commentary.
Collects classic and contemporary readings in metaphysics
Answers some of the most puzzling questions about our world and our place in it
Covers an unparalleled range of topics
Now includes a new section on existence and reality, expanded discussions on many classic issues, and an updated editorial commentary.'
Amazon
back |
Papers
| van Inwagen, Peter, E J Lowe, "Why Is there anything at all?", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 70, , 1996, page 111-120. 'The question that is my title is supposed to be the most profound and difficult of all questions. Some, indeed have said that it is a dangerous question, a question that can tear the mind asunder. But I think we can make some progress if we do not panic. Let us begin by asking what would count as an answer to it. One sort of answer, the best if we can get it, would consist in a demonstration that it was impossible for there to be nothing. Or so I would suppose: if showing that it is impossible for a certain state of affairs to obtain doesn't count as answering the question why that state of affairs does not obtain, I don't know what would count.' . back |
Links
| Aquinas 261 Whether an angel is altogether incorporeal 'I answer that, There must be some incorporeal creatures. For what is principally intended by God in creatures is good, and this consists in assimilation to God Himself. And the perfect assimilation of an effect to a cause is accomplished when the effect imitates the cause according to that whereby the cause produces the effect; as heat makes heat. Now, God produces the creature by His intellect and will (14, 8; 19, 4 ). Hence the perfection of the universe requires that there should be intellectual creatures. Now intelligence cannot be the action of a body, nor of any corporeal faculty; for every body is limited to "here" and "now." Hence the perfection of the universe requires the existence of an incorporeal creature.' back |
| Ian Ramsay Centre for Science and Religion The Evolution of Morality and the Morality of Evolution 'In 1876, the great utilitarian philosopher Henry Sigwick announced that the theory of evolution ‘has little bearing on ethics’. This opinion held sway among philosophers and biologists for almost 100 years, bolstered by the belief that the naturalistic fallacy had foreclosed on this question. From the 1970s, however, new work on kin selection, altruism, and co-operation reopened the debate. The same period witnessed growing interest from elements of the philosophical community interested in exploring questions raised for moral philosophy by evolutionary psychology and ethology. Theologians, too, have been concerned to assess whether this burgeoning field has implications for traditional theological doctrines. As a consequence of these developments evolutionary ethics is now a lively interdisciplinary field that seeks to address both the explanation of moral behaviours and their justification. This conference seeks to explore these new developments concerning the evolution of morality and their broader ramifications.' back |
| Ross Gittins Labor's bluff called on bank competition 'There are no good guys in the fuss over "unofficial" rises in mortgage interest rates. Each of the players is on the make: the greedy banks, the self-pitying punters, the commercially driven media and the insincere pollies.' back |
|
