Quote: Euripides--does random careless chance and change, alone control the world? [»euri_425]

Quote: to assert that a unique and unrepeatable phenomenon occurs according to plan is gratuitous and otiose; e.g., the wave of evolution [»thomR_1975]

Quote: in dharma theory, all things are made of instantaneous, multiply interacting events called dharmas [»joneTC6_1977]

Quote: the Chinese decomposed Pali and Sanscrit texts into dharmic form before translating to Chinese; worked well [»joneTC6_1977]

Quote: suppose there were 60 billion chemical elements uniformly distributed; there would be no science and perhaps no thought and life; every pebble would be new

Quote: knowledge of an unconditioned necessity must itself be an unconditioned necessity and hence unknowable

Quote: knowledge through pure reason about 'What can I know?' lies beyond our reach [»kantI_1781, OK]

Quote: the certitude and perfect reason of contingent truths is known only to God, who grasps the infinite with one intuition

Quote: necessary truths and contingent truths differ as rationals differ from irrationals; the former reduces to identity while the later leads to infinite regress [»leibGW_1679]

Quote: it is impossible to understand the true and internal essence of natural substances [»drakS_1978]

Quote: ultimately, nothing can be said about the nature of knowledge [»plat_368]

Quote: Plato thought it impossible to find a common definition for sensible things; they change too much

Quote: psychology must posit internal representations, but something is a representation only for or to someone; i.e., a homunculus that leads to an infinite regress [»dennDC_1978a]

Quote: free and contingent things furnish an infinite series of reasons, which God alone can see through; e.g., of space and time

Quote: analyze categories to their indefinable terms; Aristotle--we must not seek a definition of everything

Quote: extensive knowledge is as nothing because understanding a thousand intelligibles is nothing to the infinity that exist [»galiG_1632]

Quote: before Galileo, the study of motion was based on ideas and arguments; Galileo was skeptical; he measured how far a ball rolled in how long a time [»feynRP_1963]

Quote: every idea can be wrong

Quote: science is the belief in the ignorance of experts; the greatest teachers of preceding generations are not infallible; need balance [»feynRP9_1969]

Quote: Galileo's father was skeptical about authority

Quote: my having experienced a thousand times the ease with which one is deceived removes my confidence

Quote: Descartes starts with a skeptical attitude; God is an evil genius that deceives us through our senses, like dreaming [»descR_1641]

Quote: even though God deceives me, I must exist because I am aware of the possiblity of deception [»descR_1641]

Quote: errors occur because the will extends beyond the intellect and our understanding; also sin and deception [»descR_1641]

Quote: while senses may be false, thoughts must exist; so I am a thing that thinks, doubts, understands, imagines, senses [»descR_1641]

Quote: the senses can be deceived because the body effects the mind indirectly through other parts of the body [»descR_1641]

Quote: Stoic theory of error--false ideas are part of external reality but they can't mature into clear and distinct ideas (science) [»lakaI_1976]

Quote: the life of man is vulnerable to errors regarding particular things because of the need to get things done [»descR_1641]

Quote: can know things because a perfect God is not a deceiver; similarly, our willing and understanding is perfect when it comes from God [»descR_1641]

Quote: human reason stands in need of discipline to expose the illusions which it originates; this discipline is exercised by reason alone [»kantI_1781, OK]

Quote: men measure all things by themselves; e.g., since we grow weary of motion, all things seek respose of its own accord

Quote: all philosophy of pure reason is purely negative; it guards against error but does not lead to the discovery of new truth

Quote: in science, we cannot define anything precisely; we have to agree that we are talking about roughly the same thing; avoids paralysis of thought [»feynRP_1963]

Quote: freedom of will and causality are idealizations; both concern the relation between subject and object which forms the core of the problem of knowledge [»bohrN_1934]