70 Philosophers Through the Ages 600Bc 2000 Line-Up of Wikipedia Snippits Selected, Edited Listed and Bundled by Judith Hof & Timeline Index Non-Fiction
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Chrysippus's Dog As a Case Study in Non-Linguistic Cognition
Chrysippus’s Dog as a Case Study in Non-Linguistic Cognition Michael Rescorla Abstract: I critique an ancient argument for the possibility of non-linguistic deductive inference. The argument, attributed to Chrysippus, describes a dog whose behavior supposedly reflects disjunctive syllogistic reasoning. Drawing on contemporary robotics, I urge that we can equally well explain the dog’s behavior by citing probabilistic reasoning over cognitive maps. I then critique various experimentally-based arguments from scientific psychology that echo Chrysippus’s anecdotal presentation. §1. Language and thought Do non-linguistic creatures think? Debate over this question tends to calcify into two extreme doctrines. The first, espoused by Descartes, regards language as necessary for cognition. Modern proponents include Brandom (1994, pp. 145-157), Davidson (1984, pp. 155-170), McDowell (1996), and Sellars (1963, pp. 177-189). Cartesians may grant that ascribing cognitive activity to non-linguistic creatures is instrumentally useful, but they regard such ascriptions as strictly speaking false. The second extreme doctrine, espoused by Gassendi, Hume, and Locke, maintains that linguistic and non-linguistic cognition are fundamentally the same. Modern proponents include Fodor (2003), Peacocke (1997), Stalnaker (1984), and many others. Proponents may grant that non- linguistic creatures entertain a narrower range of thoughts than us, but they deny any principled difference in kind.1 2 An intermediate position holds that non-linguistic creatures display cognitive activity of a fundamentally different kind than human thought. Hobbes and Leibniz favored this intermediate position. Modern advocates include Bermudez (2003), Carruthers (2002, 2004), Dummett (1993, pp. 147-149), Malcolm (1972), and Putnam (1992, pp. 28-30). -
Zeno of Elea: Where Space, Time, Physics, and Philosophy Converge
Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Honors College at WKU Projects Fall 2007 Zeno of Elea: Where Space, Time, Physics, and Philosophy Converge An Everyman’s Introduction to an Unsung Hero of Philosophy William Turner Western Kentucky University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses Part of the Other Philosophy Commons, Other Physics Commons, and the Philosophy of Science Commons Recommended Citation Turner, William, "Zeno of Elea: Where Space, Time, Physics, and Philosophy Converge An Everyman’s Introduction to an Unsung Hero of Philosophy" (2007). Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 111. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/111 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Capstone Experience/ Thesis Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. P │ S─Z─T │ P Zeno of Elea: Where Space, Time, Physics, and Philosophy Converge An Everyman’s Introduction to an Unsung Hero of Philosophy Will Turner Western Kentucky University Abstract Zeno of Elea, despite being among the most important of the Pre-Socratic philosophers, is frequently overlooked by philosophers and scientists alike in modern times. Zeno of Elea’s arguments on have not only been an impetus for the most important scientific and mathematical theories in human history, his arguments still serve as a basis for modern problems and theoretical speculations. This is a study of his arguments on motion, the purpose they have served in the history of science, and modern applications of Zeno of Elea’s arguments on motion. -
Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum, Book Five
Binghamton University The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter 12-1986 The Lives of the Peripatetics: Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum, Book Five Michael Sollenberger Mount St. Mary's University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons, and the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Sollenberger, Michael, "The Lives of the Peripatetics: Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum, Book Five" (1986). The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter. 129. https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp/129 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter by an authorized administrator of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. f\îc|*zx,e| lîâ& The Lives of the Peripatetics: Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosoohorum Book Five The biographies of six early Peripatetic philosophers are con tained in the fifth book of Diogenes Laertius* Vitae philosoohorum: the lives of the first four heads of the sect - Aristotle, Theophras tus, Strato, and Lyco - and those of two outstanding members of the school - Demetrius of Phalerum and Heraclides of Pontus, For the history of two rival schools, the Academy and the Stoa, we are for tunate in having not only Diogenes' versions in 3ooks Four and Seven, but also the Index Academicorum and the Index Stoicorum preserved among the papyri from Herculaneum, But for the Peripatos there-is no such second source. -
Keltoi and Hellenes: a Study of the Celts in the Hellenistic World
KELTOI AND THE HELLENES A STUDY OF THE CELTS IN THE HELLENISTIC WoRU) PATRICK EGAN In the third century B.C. a large body ofCeltic tribes thrust themselves violently into the turbulent world of the Diadochoi,’ immediately instilling fear, engendering anger and finally, commanding respect from the peoples with whom they came into contact. Their warlike nature, extreme hubris and vigorous energy resembled Greece’s own Homeric past, but represented a culture, language and way of life totally alien to that of the Greeks and Macedonians in this period. In the years that followed, the Celts would go on to ravage Macedonia, sack Delphi, settle their own “kingdom” and ifil the ranks of the Successors’ armies. They would leave indelible marks on the Hellenistic World, first as plundering barbaroi and finally, as adapted, integral elements and members ofthe greatermulti-ethnic society that was taking shape around them. This paper will explore the roles played by the Celts by examining their infamous incursions into Macedonia and Greece, their phase of settlement and occupation ofwhat was to be called Galatia, their role as mercenaries, and finally their transition and adaptation, most noticeably on the individual level, to the demands of the world around them. This paper will also seek to challenge some of the traditionally hostile views held by Greek historians regarding the role, achievements, and the place the Celts occupied as members, not simply predators, of the Hellenistic World.2 19 THE DAWN OF THE CELTS IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD The Celts were not unknown to all Greeks in the years preceding the Deiphic incursion of February, 279. -
THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK George Santayana (1863-1952)
Georg Hegel (1770-1831) ................................ 30 Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) ................. 32 Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804-1872) ...... 32 John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) .......................... 33 Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) ..................... 33 Karl Marx (1818-1883).................................... 34 Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ................ 35 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914).............. 35 William James (1842-1910) ............................ 36 The Modern World 1900-1950 ............................. 36 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) .................... 37 Ahad Ha'am (1856-1927) ............................... 38 Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) ............. 38 Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) ....................... 39 Henri Bergson (1859-1941) ............................ 39 Contents John Dewey (1859–1952) ............................... 39 Introduction....................................................... 1 THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK George Santayana (1863-1952) ..................... 40 The Ancient World 700 BCE-250 CE..................... 3 Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) ................... 40 Introduction Thales of Miletus (c.624-546 BCE)................... 3 William Du Bois (1868-1963) .......................... 41 Laozi (c.6th century BCE) ................................. 4 Philosophy is not just the preserve of brilliant Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) ........................ 41 Pythagoras (c.570-495 BCE) ............................ 4 but eccentric thinkers that it is popularly Max Scheler -
Ancient Greek Society by Mark Cartwright Published on 15 May 2018
Ancient Greek Society by Mark Cartwright published on 15 May 2018 Although ancient Greek Society was dominated by the male citizen, with his full legal status, right to vote, hold public oce, and own property, the social groups which made up the population of a typical Greek city-state or polis were remarkably diverse. Women, children, immigrants (both Greek and foreign), labourers, and slaves all had dened roles, but there was interaction (oen illicit) between the classes and there was also some movement between social groups, particularly for second-generation ospring and during times of stress such as wars. The society of ancient Greece was largely composed of the following groups: male citizens - three groups: landed aristocrats (aristoi), poorer farmers (periokoi) and the middle class (artisans and traders). semi-free labourers (e.g the helots of Sparta). women - belonging to all of the above male groups but without citizen rights. children - categorised as below 18 years generally. slaves - the douloi who had civil or military duties. foreigners - non-residents (xenoi) or foreign residents (metoikoi) who were below male citizens in status. Classes Although the male citizen had by far the best position in Greek society, there were dierent classes within this group. Top of the social tree were the ‘best people’, the aristoi. Possessing more money than everyone else, this class could provide themselves with armour, weapons, and a horse when on military campaign. The aristocrats were oen split into powerful family factions or clans who controlled all of the important political positions in the polis. Their wealth came from having property and even more importantly, the best land, i.e.: the most fertile and the closest to the protection oered by the city walls. -
Chapter Two Democritus and the Different Limits to Divisibility
CHAPTER TWO DEMOCRITUS AND THE DIFFERENT LIMITS TO DIVISIBILITY § 0. Introduction In the previous chapter I tried to give an extensive analysis of the reasoning in and behind the first arguments in the history of philosophy in which problems of continuity and infinite divisibility emerged. The impact of these arguments must have been enormous. Designed to show that rationally speaking one was better off with an Eleatic universe without plurality and without motion, Zeno’s paradoxes were a challenge to everyone who wanted to salvage at least those two basic features of the world of common sense. On the other hand, sceptics, for whatever reason weary of common sense, could employ Zeno-style arguments to keep up the pressure. The most notable representative of the latter group is Gorgias, who in his book On not-being or On nature referred to ‘Zeno’s argument’, presumably in a demonstration that what is without body and does not have parts, is not. It is possible that this followed an earlier argument of his that whatever is one, must be without body.1 We recognize here what Aristotle calls Zeno’s principle, that what does not have bulk or size, is not. Also in the following we meet familiar Zenonian themes: Further, if it moves and shifts [as] one, what is, is divided, not being continuous, and there [it is] not something. Hence, if it moves everywhere, it is divided everywhere. But if that is the case, then everywhere it is not. For it is there deprived of being, he says, where it is divided, instead of ‘void’ using ‘being divided’.2 Gorgias is talking here about the situation that there is motion within what is. -
Anaximander's Ἄπειρον
1 Pulished in: Ancient Philosophy Volume 39, Issue 1, Spring 2019 Anaximander’s ἄπειρον: from the Life-world to the Cosmic Event Horizon Norman Sieroka Pages 1-22 https://doi.org/10.5840/ancientphil2019391 1 Current affiliation of author (July 2020): Theoretische Philosophie, Universität Bremen www.uni-bremen.de/theophil/sieroka Abstract Scholars have claimed repeatedly that Anaximander’s notion of the ἄπειρον marks the first metaphysical concept, or even the first theoretical entity, in Western thought. The present paper scrutinizes this claim. Characterizing natural phenomena as ἄπειρος— that is, as being inexhaustible or untraversable by standard human means—was common in daily practice, especially when referring to landmasses and seas but also when referring to vast numbers of countable objects. I will deny the assumption that Anaximander’s notion started off as being a theoretical answer to a specific philosophical question. That said, the aforementioned everyday notion of ἄπειρος could still lead to the development of theoretical concepts. Based on the observations Anaximander did with seasonal sundials, the inexhaustible landmasses and seas just mentioned became depicted on his world map by means of concentric circles. These circles then marked the bounds of experience and, by being fixed and finite, suggested the possibility of traversing beyond what is directly experienced. Evaluating claims from recent Anaximander scholarship, the paper ends with a brief comparison with concepts from modern physics which play an analogous role of demarcating the bounds of experience. Anaximander’s ἄπειρον: from the Life-world to the Cosmic Event Horizon Norman Sieroka Interest in Anaximander (c. 610-c. 547 BC) has increased in recent years. -
Anaximander and the Problem of the Earth's Immobility
Binghamton University The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter 12-28-1953 Anaximander and the Problem of the Earth's Immobility John Robinson Windham College Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp Recommended Citation Robinson, John, "Anaximander and the Problem of the Earth's Immobility" (1953). The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter. 263. https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp/263 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter by an authorized administrator of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. JOHN ROBINSON Windham College Anaximander and the Problem of the Earth’s Immobility* N the course of his review of the reasons given by his predecessors for the earth’s immobility, Aristotle states that “some” attribute it I neither to the action of the whirl nor to the air beneath’s hindering its falling : These are the causes with which most thinkers busy themselves. But there are some who say, like Anaximander among the ancients, that it stays where it is because of its “indifference” (όμοιότητα). For what is stationed at the center, and is equably related to the extremes, has no reason to go one way rather than another—either up or down or sideways. And since it is impossible for it to move simultaneously in opposite directions, it necessarily stays where it is.1 The ascription of this curious view to Anaximander appears to have occasioned little uneasiness among modern commentators. -
Thales of Miletus Sources and Interpretations Miletli Thales Kaynaklar Ve Yorumlar
Thales of Miletus Sources and Interpretations Miletli Thales Kaynaklar ve Yorumlar David Pierce October , Matematics Department Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul http://mat.msgsu.edu.tr/~dpierce/ Preface Here are notes of what I have been able to find or figure out about Thales of Miletus. They may be useful for anybody interested in Thales. They are not an essay, though they may lead to one. I focus mainly on the ancient sources that we have, and on the mathematics of Thales. I began this work in preparation to give one of several - minute talks at the Thales Meeting (Thales Buluşması) at the ruins of Miletus, now Milet, September , . The talks were in Turkish; the audience were from the general popu- lation. I chose for my title “Thales as the originator of the concept of proof” (Kanıt kavramının öncüsü olarak Thales). An English draft is in an appendix. The Thales Meeting was arranged by the Tourism Research Society (Turizm Araştırmaları Derneği, TURAD) and the office of the mayor of Didim. Part of Aydın province, the district of Didim encompasses the ancient cities of Priene and Miletus, along with the temple of Didyma. The temple was linked to Miletus, and Herodotus refers to it under the name of the family of priests, the Branchidae. I first visited Priene, Didyma, and Miletus in , when teaching at the Nesin Mathematics Village in Şirince, Selçuk, İzmir. The district of Selçuk contains also the ruins of Eph- esus, home town of Heraclitus. In , I drafted my Miletus talk in the Math Village. Since then, I have edited and added to these notes. -
Lecture 5. Zeno's Four Paradoxes of Motion
Lecture 5. Zeno's Four Paradoxes of Motion Science of infinity In Lecture 4, we mentioned that a conflict arose from the discovery of irrationals. The Greeks' rejection of irrational numbers was essentially part of a general rejection of the infinite process. In fact, until the late 19th century most mathematicians were reluctant to accept infinity. In his last observations on mathematics1, Hermann Weyl wrote: \Mathematics has been called the science of the infinite. Indeed, the mathematician invents finite constructions by which questions are decided that by their very nature refer to the infinite. That is his glory." Besides the conflict of irrational numbers, there were other conflicts about the infinite process, namely, Zeno's famous paradoxes of motion from around 450 B.C. Figure 5.1 Zeno of Citium Zeno's Paradoxes of motion Zeno (490 B.C. - 430 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher of southern Italy and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides2. We know little 1Axiomatic versus constructive procedures in mathematics, The Mathematical Intelligencer 7 (4) (1985), 10-17. 2Parmenides of Elea, early 5th century B.C., was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. For his picture, see Figure 2.3. 32 about Zeno other than Plato's assertion that he went to Athens to meet with Socrates when he was nearly 40 years old. Zeno was a Pythegorean. By a legend, he was killed by a tyrant of Elea whom he had plotted to depose. -
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F.