30 ideas
6319 | Wise people choose inaction and silence [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
6325 | One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
6321 | Vulgar people are alert; I alone am muddled [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
5311 | If observation goes up a level, we expect the laws of the lower level to remain in force [Wilson,EO] |
5312 | A child first sees objects as distinct, and later as members of groups [Wilson,EO] |
6328 | To know yet to think that one does not know is best [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
6323 | Pursuit of learning increases activity; the Way decreases it [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
5309 | Beliefs are really enabling mechanisms for survival [Wilson,EO] |
6331 | Truth is not beautiful; beautiful speech is not truthful [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
5310 | Philosophers study the consequences of ethics instead of its origins [Wilson,EO] |
22187 | Genetic behaviours that have enhanced human success include aggression, rape and xenophobia [Wilson,EO, by Okasha] |
5313 | The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature' [Wilson,EO] |
6330 | One with no use for life is wiser than one who values it [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
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] |
6327 | Do good to him who has done you an injury [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
5317 | The actor is most convincing who believes that his performance is real [Wilson,EO] |
23402 | The highest virtue is achieved without effort [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
6324 | To gain in goodness, treat as good those who are good, and those who are not [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
6322 | There is no crime greater than having too many desires [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
20662 | The biology of societies: kin selection, parenting, mating; status, territory, contracts [Wilson,EO] |
6320 | The best rulers are invisible, the next admired, the next feared, and the worst are exploited [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
6329 | People are hard to govern because authorities love to do things [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
6326 | The better known the law, the more criminals there are [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
7810 | The 'Eumenides' of Aeschylus shows blood feuds replaced by law [Aeschylus, by Grayling] |
23401 | A military victory is not a thing of beauty [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
5308 | The only human purpose is that created by our genetic history [Wilson,EO] |
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] |
5320 | It is estimated that mankind has produced 100,000 religions [Wilson,EO] |