Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Anselm, Wolfgang von Goethe and Leo Tolstoy

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24 ideas

3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 1. Truth
Anselm of Canterbury identified truth with God [Anselm, by Engel]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique
Many people imagine that to experience is to understand [Goethe]
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 3. Subjectivism
Man never understands how anthropomorphic he is [Goethe]
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
We gain self-knowledge through action, not thought - especially when doing our duty [Goethe]
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 5. Natural Beauty
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws [Goethe]
21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 4. Art as Expression
The highest feelings of mankind can only be transmitted by art [Tolstoy]
True works of art transmit completely new feelings [Tolstoy]
Art is when one man uses external signs to hand on his feelings to another man [Tolstoy]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 4. Emotion in Art
The purpose of art is to help mankind to evolve better, more socially beneficial feelings [Tolstoy]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
People estimate art according to their moral values [Tolstoy]
The upper classes put beauty first, and thus freed themselves from morality [Tolstoy]
We separate the concept of beauty from goodness, unlike the ancients [Tolstoy]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness
The happiest people link the beginning and end of life [Goethe]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 1. Purpose of a State
The best form of government teaches us to govern ourselves [Goethe]
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
To get duties from people without rights, you must pay them well [Goethe]
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof
An existing thing is even greater if its non-existence is inconceivable [Anselm]
Conceiving a greater being than God leads to absurdity [Anselm]
Even the fool can hold 'a being than which none greater exists' in his understanding [Anselm]
If that than which a greater cannot be thought actually exists, that is greater than the mere idea [Anselm]
A perfection must be independent and unlimited, and the necessary existence of Anselm's second proof gives this [Malcolm on Anselm]
The word 'God' can be denied, but understanding shows God must exist [Anselm]
Guanilo says a supremely fertile island must exist, just because we can conceive it [Anselm]
Nonexistence is impossible for the greatest thinkable thing, which has no beginning or end [Anselm]
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / b. Ontological Proof critique
Anselm's first proof fails because existence isn't a real predicate, so it can't be a perfection [Malcolm on Anselm]