56 ideas
21405 | Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral [Cicero, by Long] |
20871 | Unfortunately we choose a way of life before we are old enough to think clearly [Cicero] |
5893 | A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience [Cicero] |
5891 | Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments [Cicero] |
2661 | Dialectic is speech cast in the form of logical argument [Cicero] |
2653 | If the parts of the universe are subject to the law of nature, the whole universe must also be subject to it [Cicero] |
2673 | There cannot be more than one truth [Cicero] |
21677 | How can the not-true fail to be false, or the not-false fail to be true? [Cicero] |
2669 | Dialectic assumes that all statements are either true or false, but self-referential paradoxes are a big problem [Cicero] |
10429 | It is best to say that a name designates iff there is something for it to designate [Sainsbury] |
10425 | Definite descriptions may not be referring expressions, since they can fail to refer [Sainsbury] |
10438 | Definite descriptions are usually rigid in subject, but not in predicate, position [Sainsbury] |
8983 | If 'red' is vague, then membership of the set of red things is vague, so there is no set of red things [Sainsbury] |
8986 | We should abandon classifying by pigeon-holes, and classify around paradigms [Sainsbury] |
8982 | Vague concepts are concepts without boundaries [Sainsbury] |
8984 | If concepts are vague, people avoid boundaries, can't spot them, and don't want them [Sainsbury] |
8985 | Boundaryless concepts tend to come in pairs, such as child/adult, hot/cold [Sainsbury] |
2664 | If we have complete healthy senses, what more could the gods give us? [Cicero] |
2665 | How can there be a memory of what is false? [Cicero] |
20800 | Every true presentation can have a false one of the same quality [Cicero] |
5879 | The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath [Cicero] |
5884 | How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations? [Cicero] |
5887 | The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish [Cicero] |
5886 | Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things [Cicero] |
6029 | Whoever knows future causes knows everything that will be [Cicero] |
2628 | Why would mind mix with matter if it didn't need it? [Cicero] |
5885 | Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls [Cicero] |
10432 | A new usage of a name could arise from a mistaken baptism of nothing [Sainsbury] |
10434 | Even a quantifier like 'someone' can be used referentially [Sainsbury] |
21667 | Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it [Cicero] |
20814 | Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery [Cicero] |
21678 | If desire is not in our power then neither are choices, so we should not be praised or punished [Cicero] |
2672 | Virtues must be very detached, to avoid being motivated by pleasure [Cicero] |
5890 | We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it [Cicero] |
5894 | All men except philosophers fear poverty [Cicero] |
6031 | The essence of propriety is consistency [Cicero] |
5895 | If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero] |
2640 | We have the death penalty, but still have thousands of robbers [Cicero] |
2652 | Some regard nature simply as an irrational force that imparts movement [Cicero] |
10431 | Things are thought to have a function, even when they can't perform them [Sainsbury] |
1497 | For Anaximenes nature is air, which takes different forms by rarefaction and condensation [Anaximenes, by Simplicius] |
2645 | Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction? [Cicero] |
2627 | I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue [Cicero] |
2651 | God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God [Cicero] |
2634 | It seems clear to me that we have an innate idea of the divine [Cicero] |
2636 | Many primitive people know nothing of the gods [Cicero] |
2647 | It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium [Cicero] |
2655 | If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed [Cicero] |
2656 | Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem [Cicero] |
2650 | If a person cannot feel the power of God when looking at the stars, they are probably incapable of feeling [Cicero] |
2657 | If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine [Cicero] |
2638 | Either the gods are identical, or one is more beautiful than another [Cicero] |
2635 | The gods are happy, so virtuous, so rational, so must have human shape [Cicero] |
2641 | Why believe in gods if you have never seen them? [Cicero] |
2659 | The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless [Cicero] |
2658 | The gods blame men for having vices, but they could have given us enough reason to avoid them [Cicero] |