692 ideas
| 1922 | Spiritual qualities only become advantageous with the growth of wisdom [Plato] |
| 14179 | The finest branch of wisdom is justice and moderation in ordering states and families [Plato] |
| 354 | Wisdom makes virtue and true goodness possible [Plato] |
| 13786 | Wisdom is called 'beautiful', because it performs fine works [Plato] |
| 23890 | For Plato true wisdom is supernatural [Plato, by Weil] |
| 13780 | Good people are no different from wise ones [Plato] |
| 2136 | Philosophers become as divine and orderly as possible, by studying divinity and order [Plato] |
| 291 | Don't assume that wisdom is the automatic consequence of old age [Plato] |
| 7504 | Modern science comes from Descartes' view that knowledge doesn't need moral purity [Descartes, by Foucault] |
| 3060 | Plato never mentions Democritus, and wished to burn his books [Plato, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 162 | Can we understand an individual soul without knowing the soul in general? [Plato] |
| 326 | For relaxation one can consider the world of change, instead of eternal things [Plato] |
| 3600 | Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress [Descartes] |
| 160 | The highest ability in man is the ability to discuss unity and plurality in the nature of things [Plato] |
| 1642 | We must fight fiercely for knowledge, understanding and intelligence [Plato] |
| 315 | Philosophy is the supreme gift of the gods to mortals [Plato] |
| 3656 | The greatest good for a state is true philosophers [Descartes] |
| 370 | Philosophy is a purification of the soul ready for the afterlife [Plato] |
| 23767 | The winds of the discussion should decide its destination [Plato] |
| 15447 | We shouldn't always follow where the argument leads! [Lewis on Plato] |
| 125 | Is a gifted philosopher unmanly if he avoids the strife of the communal world? [Plato] |
| 2056 | Philosophers are always switching direction to something more interesting [Plato] |
| 24032 | Clever scholars can obscure things which are obvious even to peasants [Descartes] |
| 3601 | Most things in human life seem vain and useless [Descartes] |
| 3602 | Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher [Descartes] |
| 21962 | Metaphysics is the roots of the tree of science [Descartes] |
| 2086 | Understanding mainly involves knowing the elements, not their combinations [Plato] |
| 166 | A speaker should be able to divide a subject, right down to the limits of divisibility [Plato] |
| 16123 | Whenever you perceive a community of things, you should also hunt out differences in the group [Plato] |
| 2083 | Either a syllable is its letters (making parts as knowable as whole) or it isn't (meaning it has no parts) [Plato] |
| 23682 | It would be absurd to be precise about the small things, but only vague about the big things [Plato] |
| 24033 | Most scholastic disputes concern words, where agreeing on meanings would settle them [Descartes] |
| 1645 | The desire to split everything into its parts is unpleasant and unphilosophical [Plato] |
| 3653 | My Meditations are the complete foundation of my physics [Descartes] |
| 224 | When questions are doubtful we should concentrate not on objects but on ideas of the intellect [Plato] |
| 243 | It is foolish to quarrel with the mind's own reasoning processes [Plato] |
| 1569 | Descartes impoverished the classical idea of logos, and it no longer covered human experience [Roochnik on Descartes] |
| 350 | In investigation the body leads us astray, but the soul gets a clear view of the facts [Plato] |
| 241 | We ought to follow where the argument leads us [Plato] |
| 24024 | The secret of the method is to recognise which thing in a series is the simplest [Descartes] |
| 2248 | Reason says don't assent to uncertain principles, just as much as totally false ones [Descartes] |
| 3603 | Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic [Descartes, by PG] |
| 24018 | One truth leads us to another [Descartes] |
| 2082 | A rational account is essentially a weaving together of things with names [Plato] |
| 2857 | Since Plato all philosophers have followed the herd, except Descartes, stuck in superficial reason [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
| 362 | The greatest misfortune for a person is to develop a dislike for argument [Plato] |
| 21264 | Mortals are incapable of being fully rational [Plato] |
| 306 | Nothing can come to be without a cause [Plato] |
| 192 | Only one thing can be contrary to something [Plato] |
| 232 | Opposites are as unlike as possible [Plato] |
| 13778 | A dialectician is someone who knows how to ask and to answer questions [Plato] |
| 23891 | Two contradictories force us to find a relation which will correlate them [Plato, by Weil] |
| 2151 | Dialectic is the only method of inquiry which uproots the things which it takes for granted [Plato] |
| 2154 | The ability to take an overview is the distinguishing mark of a dialectician [Plato] |
| 4011 | For Plato, rationality is a vision of and love of a cosmic rational order [Plato, by Taylor,C] |
| 287 | Good analysis involves dividing things into appropriate forms without confusion [Plato] |
| 8937 | Plato's 'Parmenides' is the greatest artistic achievement of the ancient dialectic [Hegel on Plato] |
| 1644 | Dialectic should only be taught to those who already philosophise well [Plato] |
| 1654 | In "Gorgias" Socrates is confident that his 'elenchus' will decide moral truth [Vlastos on Plato] |
| 4321 | We should test one another, by asking and answering questions [Plato] |
| 2093 | You must never go against what you actually believe [Plato] |
| 20478 | In discussion a person's opinions are shown to be in conflict, leading to calm self-criticism [Plato] |
| 2130 | People often merely practice eristic instead of dialectic, because they don't analyse the subject-matter [Plato] |
| 2052 | Eristic discussion is aggressive, but dialectic aims to help one's companions in discussion [Plato] |
| 16125 | To reveal a nature, divide down, and strip away what it has in common with other things [Plato] |
| 16124 | No one wants to define 'weaving' just for the sake of weaving [Plato] |
| 15854 | A primary element has only a name, and no logos, but complexes have an account, by weaving the names [Plato] |
| 3659 | I know the truth that God exists and is the author of truth [Descartes] |
| 3641 | It is circular to make truth depend on believing God's existence is true [Arnauld on Descartes] |
| 4524 | Descartes is right that in the Christian view only God can guarantee the reliability of senses [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
| 3612 | Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists [Descartes] |
| 2290 | Once it is clear that there is a God who is no deceiver, I conclude that clear and distinct perceptions must be true [Descartes] |
| 4736 | Truth is such a transcendentally clear notion that it cannot be further defined [Descartes] |
| 251 | Truth has the supreme value, for both gods and men [Plato] |
| 3610 | Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure [Descartes] |
| 2266 | My general rule is that everything that I perceive clearly and distinctly is true [Descartes] |
| 4301 | Someone may think a thing is 'clear and distinct', but be wrong [Leibniz on Descartes] |
| 13776 | Truths say of what is that it is, falsehoods say of what is that it is not [Plato] |
| 4298 | All items of possible human knowledge are interconnected, and can be reached by inference [Descartes] |
| 2145 | In mathematics certain things have to be accepted without further explanation [Plato] |
| 15845 | It seems absurd that seeing a person's limbs, the one is many, and yet the many are one [Plato] |
| 10054 | Arithmetic and geometry achieve some certainty without worrying about existence [Descartes] |
| 13777 | A name is a sort of tool [Plato] |
| 13790 | A name-giver might misname something, then force other names to conform to it [Plato] |
| 13791 | Things must be known before they are named, so it can't be the names that give us knowledge [Plato] |
| 13789 | Anyone who knows a thing's name also knows the thing [Plato] |
| 11259 | How can you seek knowledge of something if you don't know it? [Plato] |
| 13986 | Plato found antinomies in ideas, Kant in space and time, and Bradley in relations [Plato, by Ryle] |
| 14150 | Plato's 'Parmenides' is perhaps the best collection of antinomies ever made [Russell on Plato] |
| 2252 | Surely maths is true even if I am dreaming? [Descartes] |
| 2430 | I can learn the concepts of duration and number just from observing my own thoughts [Descartes] |
| 8726 | Geometry can lead the mind upwards to truth and philosophy [Plato] |
| 9867 | It is absurd to define a circle, but not be able to recognise a real one [Plato] |
| 13445 | Descartes showed a one-one order-preserving match between points on a line and the real numbers [Descartes, by Hart,WD] |
| 24035 | Unity is something shared by many things, so in that respect they are equals [Descartes] |
| 24036 | I can only see the proportion of two to three if there is a common measure - their unity [Descartes] |
| 13155 | If you add one to one, which one becomes two, or do they both become two? [Plato] |
| 9865 | Daily arithmetic counts unequal things, but pure arithmetic equalises them [Plato] |
| 9863 | We aim for elevated discussion of pure numbers, not attaching them to physical objects [Plato] |
| 9864 | In pure numbers, all ones are equal, with no internal parts [Plato] |
| 8727 | Geometry is not an activity, but the study of unchanging knowledge [Plato] |
| 10216 | We master arithmetic by knowing all the numbers in our soul [Plato] |
| 16150 | One is, so numbers exist, so endless numbers exist, and each one must partake of being [Plato] |
| 9861 | The same thing is both one and an unlimited number at the same time [Plato] |
| 21963 | It is possible that an omnipotent God might make one and two fail to equal three [Descartes] |
| 229 | The one was and is and will be and was becoming and is becoming and will become [Plato] |
| 324 | Before the existence of the world there must have been being, space and becoming [Plato] |
| 20364 | The apprehensions of reason remain unchanging, but reasonless sensation shows mere becoming [Plato] |
| 9862 | To become rational, philosophers must rise from becoming into being [Plato] |
| 11278 | What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato] |
| 24029 | Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants [Descartes] |
| 1643 | If statements about non-existence are logically puzzling, so are statements about existence [Plato] |
| 21818 | Being depends on the Good, which is not itself being, but superior to being [Plato] |
| 21821 | Plato's Parmenides has a three-part theory, of Primal One, a One-Many, and a One-and-Many [Plato, by Plotinus] |
| 7022 | To be is to have a capacity, to act on other things, or to receive actions [Plato] |
| 2061 | The best things (gods, healthy bodies, good souls) are least liable to change [Plato] |
| 2060 | There seem to be two sorts of change: alteration and motion [Plato] |
| 2063 | How can beauty have identity if it changes? [Plato] |
| 3644 | Two things being joined together doesn't prove they are the same [Descartes] |
| 14503 | If a mixture does not contain measure and proportion, it is corrupted and destroyed [Plato] |
| 15857 | Any mixture which lacks measure and proportion doesn't even count as a mixture at all [Plato] |
| 7953 | Reasoning needs to cut nature accurately at the joints [Plato] |
| 221 | Absolute ideas, such as the Good and the Beautiful, cannot be known by us [Plato] |
| 6562 | Plato's reality has unchanging Parmenidean forms, and Heraclitean flux [Plato, by Fogelin] |
| 1641 | Some alarming thinkers think that only things which you can touch exist [Plato] |
| 10784 | Whenever there's speech it has to be about something [Plato] |
| 13775 | We only succeed in cutting if we use appropriate tools, not if we approach it randomly [Plato] |
| 16121 | I revere anyone who can discern a single thing that encompasses many things [Plato] |
| 21347 | If Simmias is taller than Socrates, that isn't a feature that is just in Simmias [Plato] |
| 14502 | Plato's idea of 'structure' tends to be mathematically expressed [Plato, by Koslicki] |
| 16635 | Incorporeal substances are powers or forces [Descartes, by Pasnau] |
| 16744 | All powers can be explained by obvious features like size, shape and motion of matter [Descartes] |
| 5016 | Five universals: genus, species, difference, property, accident [Descartes] |
| 223 | If you deny that each thing always stays the same, you destroy the possibility of discussion [Plato] |
| 2142 | The plurality of beautiful things must belong to a single class, because they have a single particular character [Plato] |
| 153 | It takes a person to understand, by using universals, and by using reason to create a unity out of sense-impressions [Plato] |
| 227 | You must always mean the same thing when you utter the same name [Plato] |
| 1607 | Diotima said the Forms are the objects of desire in philosophical discourse [Plato, by Roochnik] |
| 3039 | When Diogenes said he could only see objects but not their forms, Plato said it was because he had eyes but no intellect [Plato, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 2159 | Craftsmen making furniture refer to the form, but no one manufactures the form of furniture [Plato] |
| 210 | It would be absurd to think there were abstract Forms for vile things like hair, mud and dirt [Plato] |
| 220 | The concept of a master includes the concept of a slave [Plato] |
| 360 | We must have a prior knowledge of equality, if we see 'equal' things and realise they fall short of it [Plato] |
| 17948 | Plato's Forms meant that the sophists only taught the appearance of wisdom and virtue [Plato, by Nehamas] |
| 10422 | The not-beautiful is part of the beautiful, though opposed to it, and is just as real [Plato] |
| 12042 | Plato's Forms were seen as part of physics, rather than of metaphysics [Plato, by Annas] |
| 307 | Something will always be well-made if the maker keeps in mind the eternal underlying pattern [Plato] |
| 318 | In addition to the underlying unchanging model and a changing copy of it, there must also be a foundation of all change [Plato] |
| 321 | For knowledge and true opinion to be different there must be Forms; otherwise we are just stuck with sensations [Plato] |
| 5094 | Plato's Forms are said to have no location in space [Plato, by Aristotle] |
| 154 | We would have an overpowering love of knowledge if we had a pure idea of it - as with the other Forms [Plato] |
| 211 | If admirable things have Forms, maybe everything else does as well [Plato] |
| 219 | If absolute ideas existed in us, they would cease to be absolute [Plato] |
| 228 | Greatness and smallness must exist, to be opposed to one another, and come into being in things [Plato] |
| 20906 | Platonists argue for the indivisible triangle-in-itself [Plato, by Aristotle] |
| 12043 | Forms are not universals, as they don't cover every general term [Plato, by Annas] |
| 16151 | Plato moves from Forms to a theory of genera and principles in his later work [Plato, by Frede,M] |
| 16122 | Good thinkers spot forms spread through things, or included within some larger form [Plato] |
| 215 | If things partake of ideas, this implies either that everything thinks, or that everything actually is thought [Plato] |
| 212 | The whole idea of each Form must be found in each thing which participates in it [Plato] |
| 317 | The universe is basically an intelligible and unchanging model, and a visible and changing copy of it [Plato] |
| 4447 | If the good is one, is it unchanged when it is in particulars, and is it then separated from itself? [Plato] |
| 1 | There is only one source for all beauty [Plato] |
| 368 | Other things are named after the Forms because they participate in them [Plato] |
| 304 | Beautiful things must be different from beauty itself, but beauty itself must be present in each of them [Plato] |
| 556 | If there is one Form for both the Form and its participants, they must have something in common [Aristotle on Plato] |
| 218 | Participation is not by means of similarity, so we are looking for some other method of participation [Plato] |
| 17 | A Form applies to a set of particular things with the same name [Plato] |
| 213 | Each idea is in all its participants at once, just as daytime is a unity but in many separate places at once [Plato] |
| 216 | If things are made alike by participating in something, that thing will be the absolute idea [Plato] |
| 217 | Nothing can be like an absolute idea, because a third idea intervenes to make them alike (leading to a regress) [Plato] |
| 190 | If asked whether justice itself is just or unjust, you would have to say that it is just [Plato] |
| 563 | If gods are like men, they are just eternal men; similarly, Forms must differ from particulars [Aristotle on Plato] |
| 214 | If absolute greatness and great things are seen as the same, another thing appears which makes them seem great [Plato] |
| 12122 | Plato mistakenly thought forms were totally abstracted away from matter [Bacon on Plato] |
| 5574 | Plato's Forms not only do not come from the senses, but they are beyond possibility of sensing [Plato, by Kant] |
| 557 | A Form is a cause of things only in the way that white mixed with white is a cause [Aristotle on Plato] |
| 565 | The Forms cannot be changeless if they are in changing things [Aristotle on Plato] |
| 5015 | A universal is a single idea applied to individual things that are similar to one another [Descartes] |
| 9607 | The greatest discovery in human thought is Plato's discovery of abstract objects [Brown,JR on Plato] |
| 13263 | We can grasp whole things in science, because they have a mathematics and a teleology [Plato, by Koslicki] |
| 13787 | Doesn't each thing have an essence, just as it has other qualities? [Plato] |
| 15855 | If we see everything as separate, we can then give no account of it [Plato] |
| 13261 | Plato sees an object's structure as expressible in mathematics [Plato, by Koslicki] |
| 13265 | Plato was less concerned than Aristotle with the source of unity in a complex object [Plato, by Koslicki] |
| 15851 | Parts must belong to a created thing with a distinct form [Plato] |
| 15856 | A thing can become one or many, depending on how we talk about it [Plato] |
| 2297 | If I can separate two things in my understanding, then God can separate them in reality [Descartes] |
| 3626 | Knowing the attributes is enough to reveal a substance [Descartes] |
| 16630 | If we perceive an attribute, we infer the existence of some substance [Descartes] |
| 593 | Plato's holds that there are three substances: Forms, mathematical entities, and perceptible bodies [Plato, by Aristotle] |
| 5013 | A substance needs nothing else in order to exist [Descartes] |
| 3628 | Substance cannot be conceived or explained to others [Gassendi on Descartes] |
| 16774 | Descartes thinks distinguishing substances from aggregates is pointless [Descartes, by Pasnau] |
| 15846 | In Parmenides, if composition is identity, a whole is nothing more than its parts [Plato, by Harte,V] |
| 374 | If one object is divided into its parts, someone can then say that one are many and many is one [Plato] |
| 16631 | If we remove surface qualities from wax, we have an extended, flexible, changeable thing [Descartes] |
| 15849 | Plato says only a one has parts, and a many does not [Plato, by Harte,V] |
| 15850 | Anything which has parts must be one thing, and parts are of a one, not of a many [Plato] |
| 2084 | If a word has no parts and has a single identity, it turns out to be the same kind of thing as a letter [Plato] |
| 15844 | A sum is that from which nothing is lacking, which is a whole [Plato] |
| 15843 | The whole can't be the parts, because it would be all of the parts, which is the whole [Plato] |
| 13260 | Plato says wholes are either containers, or they're atomic, or they don't exist [Plato, by Koslicki] |
| 13259 | It seems that the One must be composed of parts, which contradicts its being one [Plato] |
| 11237 | Only universals have essence [Plato, by Politis] |
| 13774 | Things don't have every attribute, and essence isn't private, so each thing has an essence [Plato] |
| 21259 | To grasp a thing we need its name, its definition, and what it really is [Plato] |
| 17865 | Descartes gives an essence by an encapsulating formula [Descartes, by Almog] |
| 11238 | Plato and Aristotle take essence to make a thing what it is [Plato, by Politis] |
| 16633 | A substance has one principal property which is its nature and essence [Descartes] |
| 13772 | Is the being or essence of each thing private to each person? [Plato] |
| 12251 | Substantial forms are not understood, and explain nothing [Descartes] |
| 16516 | The ship which Theseus took to Crete is now sent to Delos crowned with flowers [Plato] |
| 15847 | Two things relate either as same or different, or part of a whole, or the whole of the part [Plato] |
| 13788 | If we made a perfect duplicate of Cratylus, there would be two Cratyluses [Plato] |
| 24030 | 3+4=7 is necessary because we cannot conceive of seven without including three and four [Descartes] |
| 2301 | We know by thought that what is done cannot be undone [Descartes] |
| 3642 | Pythagoras' Theorem doesn't cease to be part of the essence of triangles just because we doubt it [Arnauld on Descartes] |
| 2133 | Knowledge must be of the permanent unchanging nature of things [Plato] |
| 16120 | Knowing how to achieve immortality is pointless without the knowledge how to use immortality [Plato] |
| 2080 | Things are only knowable if a rational account (logos) is possible [Plato] |
| 16126 | Expertise is knowledge of the whole by means of the parts [Plato] |
| 20184 | The only real evil is loss of knowledge [Plato] |
| 20219 | True opinions only become really valuable when they are tied down by reasons [Plato] |
| 20185 | The most important things in life are wisdom and knowledge [Plato] |
| 3605 | We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it [Descartes] |
| 2050 | It is impossible to believe something which is held to be false [Plato] |
| 2076 | How can a belief exist if its object doesn't exist? [Plato] |
| 20190 | Belief is not an intellectual state or act, because propositions are affirmed or denied by the will [Descartes, by Zagzebski] |
| 389 | How can you be certain about aspects of the world if they aren't constant? [Plato] |
| 24019 | If we accept mere probabilities as true we undermine our existing knowledge [Descartes] |
| 9807 | In pursuing truth, anything less certain than mathematics is a waste of time [Descartes] |
| 1583 | In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology [Roochnik on Descartes] |
| 1585 | Descartes tried to model reason on maths instead of 'logos' [Roochnik on Descartes] |
| 1582 | Labelling slightly doubtful things as false is irrational [Roochnik on Descartes] |
| 2256 | Maybe there is only one certain fact, which is that nothing is certain [Descartes] |
| 3657 | Understanding, not the senses, gives certainty [Descartes] |
| 2260 | If I don't think, there is no reason to think that I exist [Descartes] |
| 3658 | Total doubt can't include your existence while doubting [Descartes] |
| 6914 | Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist' [Descartes, by Feuerbach] |
| 24020 | We all see intuitively that we exist, where intuition is attentive, clear and distinct rational understanding [Descartes] |
| 24031 | When Socrates doubts, he know he doubts, and that truth is possible [Descartes] |
| 6929 | Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God [Descartes, by Feuerbach] |
| 3849 | "I think therefore I am" is the absolute truth of consciousness [Sartre on Descartes] |
| 2258 | I must even exist if I am being deceived by something [Descartes] |
| 2259 | "I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind [Descartes] |
| 3160 | The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge [Rey on Descartes] |
| 3607 | In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain [Descartes] |
| 3622 | The Cogito is not a syllogism but a self-evident intuition [Descartes] |
| 4641 | In the Meditations version of the Cogito he says "I am; I exist", which avoids presenting it as an argument [Descartes, by Baggini /Fosl] |
| 5005 | I think, therefore I am, because for a thinking thing to not exist is a contradiction [Descartes] |
| 5006 | 'Thought' is all our conscious awareness, including feeling as well as understanding [Descartes] |
| 3623 | The Cogito only works if you already understand what thought and existence are [Mersenne on Descartes] |
| 1369 | It is a precondition of the use of the word 'I' that I exist [Ayer on Descartes] |
| 5360 | The thing which experiences may be momentary, and change with the next experience [Russell on Descartes] |
| 2870 | 'I think' assumes I exist, that thinking is known and caused, and that I am doing it [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
| 5188 | A thought doesn't imply other thoughts, or enough thoughts to make up a self [Ayer on Descartes] |
| 3624 | That I perform an activity (thinking) doesn't prove what type of thing I am [Hobbes on Descartes] |
| 3120 | Autistic children seem to use the 'I' concept without seeing themselves as thinkers [Segal on Descartes] |
| 4526 | The Cogito assumes a priori the existence of substance, when actually it is a grammatical custom [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
| 5579 | How can we infer that all thinking involves self-consciousness, just from my own case? [Kant on Descartes] |
| 5580 | My self is not an inference from 'I think', but a presupposition of it [Kant on Descartes] |
| 5587 | We cannot give any information a priori about the nature of the 'thing that thinks' [Kant on Descartes] |
| 5588 | The fact that I am a subject is not enough evidence to show that I am a substantial object [Kant on Descartes] |
| 13923 | Descartes' claim to know his existence before his essence is misleading or absurd [Descartes, by Lowe] |
| 6930 | Modern self-consciousness is a doubtful abstraction; only senses and feelings are certain [Feuerbach on Descartes] |
| 1117 | The Cogito proves subjective experience is basic, but makes false claims about the Self [Russell on Descartes] |
| 2873 | Maybe 'I' am not the thinker, but something produced by thought [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
| 2261 | My perceiving of things may be false, but my seeming to perceive them cannot be false [Descartes] |
| 2257 | I myself could be the author of all these self-delusions [Descartes] |
| 24025 | Clear and distinct truths must be known all at once (unlike deductions) [Descartes] |
| 24022 | Our souls possess divine seeds of knowledge, which can bear spontaneous fruit [Descartes] |
| 3630 | Our thinking about external things doesn't disprove the existence of innate ideas [Descartes] |
| 5985 | Seeking and learning are just recollection [Plato] |
| 5986 | The slave boy learns geometry from questioning, not teaching, so it is recollection [Plato] |
| 357 | People are obviously recollecting when they react to a geometrical diagram [Plato] |
| 359 | If we feel the inadequacy of a resemblance, we must recollect the original [Plato] |
| 5961 | The soul gets its goodness from god, and its evil from previous existence. [Plato] |
| 5012 | 'Nothing comes from nothing' is an eternal truth found within the mind [Descartes] |
| 2279 | A triangle has a separate non-invented nature, shown by my ability to prove facts about it [Descartes] |
| 2602 | What experience could prove 'If a=c and b=c then a=b'? [Descartes] |
| 9343 | To achieve pure knowledge, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things with the soul [Plato] |
| 3617 | I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind [Descartes] |
| 2045 | Perception is infallible, suggesting that it is knowledge [Plato] |
| 2067 | Our senses could have been separate, but they converge on one mind [Plato] |
| 6490 | For Descartes, objects have one primary quality, which is geometrical [Descartes, by Robinson,H] |
| 22593 | Our sensation of light may not be the same as what produces the sensation [Descartes] |
| 7400 | Descartes said images can refer to objects without resembling them (as words do) [Descartes, by Tuck] |
| 2295 | Why does pain make us sad? [Descartes] |
| 3627 | Dogs can make the same judgements as us about variable things [Gassendi on Descartes] |
| 2068 | With what physical faculty do we perceive pairs of opposed abstract qualities? [Plato] |
| 2078 | You might mistake eleven for twelve in your senses, but not in your mind [Plato] |
| 1637 | A soul without understanding is ugly [Plato] |
| 2265 | We perceive objects by intellect, not by senses or imagination [Descartes] |
| 3611 | Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge [Descartes] |
| 2162 | If theory and practice conflict, the best part of the mind accepts theory, so the other part is of lower grade [Plato] |
| 2069 | Thought must grasp being itself before truth becomes possible [Plato] |
| 151 | True knowledge is of the reality behind sense experience [Plato] |
| 334 | Only bird-brained people think astronomy is entirely a matter of evidence [Plato] |
| 2263 | The wax is not perceived by the senses, but by the mind alone [Descartes] |
| 2264 | We don't 'see' men in heavy clothes, we judge them to be men [Descartes] |
| 24034 | If someone had only seen the basic colours, they could deduce the others from resemblance [Descartes] |
| 2140 | True belief without knowledge is like blind people on the right road [Plato] |
| 1923 | As a guide to action, true opinion is as good as knowledge [Plato] |
| 2089 | An inadequate rational account would still not justify knowledge [Plato] |
| 174 | True opinion without reason is midway between wisdom and ignorance [Plato] |
| 2085 | Parts and wholes are either equally knowable or equally unknowable [Plato] |
| 2091 | Without distinguishing marks, how do I know what my beliefs are about? [Plato] |
| 2087 | A rational account might be seeing an image of one's belief, like a reflection in a mirror [Plato] |
| 2090 | A rational account involves giving an image, or analysis, or giving a differentiating mark [Plato] |
| 2081 | Maybe primary elements can be named, but not receive a rational account [Plato] |
| 24021 | The method starts with clear intuitions, followed by a process of deduction [Descartes] |
| 3606 | I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand [Descartes] |
| 2247 | To achieve good science we must rebuild from the foundations [Descartes] |
| 2255 | Only one certainty is needed for progress (like a lever's fulcrum) [Descartes] |
| 5004 | We can know basic Principles without further knowledge, but not the other way round [Descartes] |
| 2088 | A rational account of a wagon would mean knowledge of its hundred parts [Plato] |
| 303 | Say how many teeth the other has, then count them. If you are right, we will trust your other claims [Plato] |
| 2251 | Even if my body and objects are imaginary, there may be simpler things which are true [Descartes] |
| 13792 | There can't be any knowledge if things are constantly changing [Plato] |
| 6347 | Descartes can't begin again, because sceptics doubt cognitive processes as well as beliefs [Pollock/Cruz on Descartes] |
| 2296 | If pain is felt in a lost limb, I cannot be certain that a felt pain exists in my real limbs [Descartes] |
| 3620 | We correct sense errors with other senses, not intellect [Mersenne on Descartes] |
| 3619 | The senses can only report, so perception errors are in the judgment [Gassendi on Descartes] |
| 2249 | It is prudent never to trust your senses if they have deceived you even once [Descartes] |
| 3621 | Only judgement decides which of our senses are reliable [Descartes] |
| 2253 | God may have created nothing, but made his creation appear to me as it does now [Descartes] |
| 2254 | To achieve full scepticism, I imagine a devil who deceives me about the external world and my own body and senses [Descartes] |
| 2047 | What evidence can be brought to show whether we are dreaming or not? [Plato] |
| 2305 | Waking actions are joined by memory to all our other actions, unlike actions of which we dream [Descartes] |
| 3604 | When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings [Descartes] |
| 2294 | I can only sense an object if it is present, and can't fail to sense it when it is [Descartes] |
| 1919 | You don't need to learn what you know, and how do you seek for what you don't know? [Plato] |
| 335 | Do the gods also hold different opinions about what is right and honourable? [Plato] |
| 2054 | Clearly some people are superior to others when it comes to medicine [Plato] |
| 2053 | If you claim that all beliefs are true, that includes beliefs opposed to your own [Plato] |
| 2059 | How can a relativist form opinions about what will happen in the future? [Plato] |
| 3618 | Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations [Descartes] |
| 165 | If the apparent facts strongly conflict with probability, it is in everyone's interests to suppress the facts [Plato] |
| 17085 | A good explanation totally rules out the opposite explanation (so Forms are required) [Plato, by Ruben] |
| 15859 | To investigate the causes of things, study what is best for them [Plato] |
| 2096 | Is the function of the mind management, authority and planning - or is it one's whole way of life? [Plato] |
| 13781 | Soul causes the body to live, and gives it power to breathe and to be revitalized [Plato] |
| 6009 | Psychic conflict is clear if appetite is close to the body and reason fairly separate [Plato, by Modrak] |
| 6041 | There is a third element to the mind - spirit - lying between reason and appetite [Plato] |
| 9296 | The soul is self-motion [Plato] |
| 5962 | Plato says the soul is ordered by number [Plato, by Plutarch] |
| 21260 | Soul is what is defined by 'self-generating motion' [Plato] |
| 4862 | Can the pineal gland be moved more slowly or quickly by the mind than by animal spirits? [Spinoza on Descartes] |
| 3850 | We discovers others as well as ourselves in the Cogito [Sartre on Descartes] |
| 2127 | The mind has parts, because we have inner conflicts [Plato] |
| 1737 | The soul seems to have an infinity of parts [Aristotle on Plato] |
| 2302 | Faculties of the mind aren't parts, as one mind uses them [Descartes] |
| 3615 | Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all [Descartes] |
| 13154 | Do we think and experience with blood, air or fire, or could it be our brain? [Plato] |
| 24027 | Nerves and movement originate in the brain, where imagination moves them [Descartes] |
| 5014 | We can understand thinking occuring without imagination or sensation [Descartes] |
| 16634 | I can't be unaware of anything which is in me [Descartes] |
| 3151 | Descartes put thought at the centre of the mind problem, but we put sensation [Rey on Descartes] |
| 24026 | Our four knowledge faculties are intelligence, imagination, the senses, and memory [Descartes] |
| 21800 | Descartes mentions many cognitive faculties, but reduces them to will and intellect [Descartes, by Schmid] |
| 1399 | Imagination and sensation are non-essential to mind [Descartes] |
| 191 | Everything resembles everything else up to a point [Plato] |
| 1400 | Some cause must unite the separate temporal sections of a person [Descartes] |
| 276 | My individuality is my soul, which carries my body around [Plato] |
| 3609 | I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support [Descartes] |
| 364 | One soul can't be more or less of a soul than another [Plato] |
| 1401 | Since I only observe myself to be thinking, I conclude that that is my essence [Descartes] |
| 2299 | I can exist without imagination and sensing, but they can't exist without me [Descartes] |
| 6907 | For Descartes a person's essence is the mind because objects are perceived by mind, not senses [Descartes, by Feuerbach] |
| 5017 | In thinking we shut ourselves off from other substances, showing our identity and separateness [Descartes] |
| 180 | We call a person the same throughout life, but all their attributes change [Plato] |
| 181 | Only the gods stay unchanged; we replace our losses with similar acquisitions [Plato] |
| 2283 | Our 'will' just consists of the feeling that when we are motivated to do something, there are no external pressures [Descartes] |
| 5010 | Our free will is so self-evident to us that it must be a basic innate idea [Descartes] |
| 3789 | The more reasons that compel me, the freer I am [Descartes] |
| 2282 | My capacity to make choices with my free will extends as far as any faculty ever could [Descartes] |
| 4310 | We have inner awareness of our freedom [Descartes] |
| 330 | No one wants to be bad, but bad men result from physical and educational failures, which they do not want or choose [Plato] |
| 24028 | The force by which we know things is spiritual, and quite distinct from the body [Descartes] |
| 3608 | I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence [Descartes] |
| 3613 | Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs [Descartes] |
| 2276 | The mind is a non-extended thing which thinks [Descartes] |
| 2298 | Mind is not extended, unlike the body [Descartes] |
| 3423 | Descartes is a substance AND property dualist [Descartes, by Kim] |
| 2303 | The mind is utterly indivisible [Descartes] |
| 5011 | There are two ultimate classes of existence: thinking substance and extended substance [Descartes] |
| 3616 | The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations [Descartes] |
| 6153 | Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy [Rowlands on Descartes] |
| 6553 | Descartes discussed the interaction problem, and compared it with gravity [Descartes, by Lycan] |
| 3654 | The pineal gland links soul to body, and unites the two symmetrical sides of the body [Descartes, by PG] |
| 3625 | The 'thinking thing' may be the physical basis of the mind [Hobbes on Descartes] |
| 2552 | Knowing different aspects of brain/mind doesn't make them different [Rorty on Descartes] |
| 4305 | Descartes gives no clear criterion for individuating mental substances [Cottingham on Descartes] |
| 4861 | Does Descartes have a clear conception of how mind unites with body? [Spinoza on Descartes] |
| 6540 | Even Descartes may concede that mental supervenes on neuroanatomical [Lycan on Descartes] |
| 7733 | Superman's strength is indubitable, Clark Kent's is doubtful, so they are not the same? [Maslin on Descartes] |
| 5018 | Even if tightly united, mind and body are different, as God could separate them [Descartes] |
| 3643 | The concept of mind excludes body, and vice versa [Descartes] |
| 5686 | In some thoughts I grasp a subject, but also I will or fear or affirm or deny it [Descartes] |
| 4015 | For Descartes passions are God-given preservers of the mind-body union [Descartes, by Taylor,C] |
| 4313 | Are there a few primary passions (say, joy, sadness and desire)? [Descartes, by Cottingham] |
| 23989 | There are six primitive passions: wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy and sadness [Descartes, by Goldie] |
| 23997 | Plato saw emotions and appetites as wild horses, in need of taming [Plato, by Goldie] |
| 1651 | Plato wanted to somehow control and purify the passions [Vlastos on Plato] |
| 4017 | Descartes created the modern view of rationality, as an internal feature instead of an external vision [Descartes, by Taylor,C] |
| 2284 | I make errors because my will extends beyond my understanding [Descartes] |
| 5007 | Most errors of judgement result from an inaccurate perception of the facts [Descartes] |
| 3614 | A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation [Descartes] |
| 5685 | True ideas are images, such as of a man, a chimera, or God [Descartes] |
| 3629 | All ideas are adventitious, and come from the senses [Gassendi on Descartes] |
| 3631 | A blind man may still contain the idea of colour [Descartes] |
| 2600 | The mind's innate ideas are part of its capacity for thought [Descartes] |
| 2273 | The ideas of God and of my self are innate in me [Descartes] |
| 2285 | I can think of innumerable shapes I have never experienced [Descartes] |
| 2601 | Qualia must be innate, because physical motions do not contain them [Descartes] |
| 2286 | The idea of a supremely perfect being is within me, like the basic concepts of mathematics [Descartes] |
| 116 | Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends [Plato] |
| 158 | An excellent speech seems to imply a knowledge of the truth in the mind of the speaker [Plato] |
| 283 | The question of whether or not to persuade comes before the science of persuasion [Plato] |
| 159 | Only a good philosopher can be a good speaker [Plato] |
| 5945 | The 'Republic' is a great work of rhetorical theory [Lawson-Tancred on Plato] |
| 114 | Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong [Plato] |
| 3324 | Plato's whole philosophy may be based on being duped by reification - a figure of speech [Benardete,JA on Plato] |
| 5946 | 'Phaedrus' pioneers the notion of philosophical rhetoric [Lawson-Tancred on Plato] |
| 135 | All activity aims at the good [Plato] |
| 23316 | For Plato and Aristotle there is no will; there is only rational desire for what is seen as good [Plato, by Frede,M] |
| 20037 | Merely willing to walk leads to our walking [Descartes] |
| 16 | We avoid evil either through a natural aversion, or because we have acquired knowledge [Plato] |
| 203 | Courage is knowing what should or shouldn't be feared [Plato] |
| 1655 | If goodness needs true opinion but not knowledge, you can skip the 'examined life' [Vlastos on Plato] |
| 5009 | We do not praise the acts of an efficient automaton, as their acts are necessary [Descartes] |
| 5008 | The greatest perfection of man is to act by free will, and thus merit praise or blame [Descartes] |
| 4026 | Beauty is harmony with what is divine, and ugliness is lack of such harmony [Plato] |
| 390 | If goodness involves moderation and proportion, then it seems to be found in beauty [Plato] |
| 299 | What is fine is always difficult [Plato] |
| 172 | Love of ugliness is impossible [Plato] |
| 173 | Beauty and goodness are the same [Plato] |
| 155 | Beauty is the clearest and most lovely of the Forms [Plato] |
| 249 | People who value beauty above virtue insult the soul by placing the body above it [Plato] |
| 183 | Stage two is the realisation that beauty of soul is of more value than beauty of body [Plato] |
| 184 | Progress goes from physical beauty, to moral beauty, to the beauty of knowledge, and reaches absolute beauty [Plato] |
| 282 | Non-physical beauty can only be shown clearly by speech [Plato] |
| 171 | Music is a knowledge of love in the realm of harmony and rhythm [Plato] |
| 316 | Music has harmony like the soul, and serves to reorder disharmony within us [Plato] |
| 16565 | Without the surface decoration, poetry shows only appearances and nothing of what is real [Plato] |
| 2160 | Representation is two steps removed from the truth [Plato] |
| 2163 | Artists should be excluded from a law-abiding community, because they destroy the rational mind [Plato] |
| 2135 | Truth is closely related to proportion [Plato] |
| 468 | Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.] |
| 297 | What is fine is the parent of goodness [Plato] |
| 168 | To understand morality requires a soul [Plato] |
| 2141 | I suggest that we forget about trying to define goodness itself for the time being [Plato] |
| 302 | What knowledge is required to live well? [Plato] |
| 1869 | The good cannot be expressed in words, but imprints itself upon the soul [Plato, by Celsus] |
| 7503 | Plato never refers to examining the conscience [Plato, by Foucault] |
| 143 | The two ruling human principles are the natural desire for pleasure, and an acquired love of virtue [Plato] |
| 4115 | Plato found that he could only enforce rational moral justification by creating an authoritarian society [Williams,B on Plato] |
| 122 | Moral rules are made by the weak members of humanity [Plato] |
| 2173 | As religion and convention collapsed, Plato sought morals not just in knowledge, but in the soul [Williams,B on Plato] |
| 4547 | Plato measured the degree of reality by the degree of value [Nietzsche on Plato] |
| 2094 | A thing's function is what it alone can do, or what it does better than other things [Plato] |
| 2095 | If something has a function then it has a state of being good [Plato] |
| 2129 | Goodness is mental health, badness is mental sickness [Plato] |
| 16763 | We don't die because the soul departs; the soul departs because the organs cease functioning [Descartes] |
| 1590 | The just man does not harm his enemies, but benefits everyone [Plato] |
| 14177 | Love assists men in achieving merit and happiness [Plato] |
| 179 | Love is desire for perpetual possession of the good [Plato] |
| 176 | Love follows beauty, wisdom is exceptionally beautiful, so love follows wisdom [Plato] |
| 139 | A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato] |
| 12 | If we were invisible, would the just man become like the unjust? [Plato] |
| 2168 | Clever criminals do well at first, but not in the long run [Plato] |
| 128 | Is it natural to simply indulge our selfish desires? [Plato] |
| 202 | No one willingly and knowingly embraces evil [Plato] |
| 2137 | The main aim is to understand goodness, which gives everything its value and advantage [Plato] |
| 2139 | Every person, and every activity, aims at the good [Plato] |
| 392 | Neither intellect nor pleasure are the good, because they are not perfect and self-sufficient [Plato] |
| 2143 | Good has the same role in the world of knowledge as the sun has in the physical world [Plato] |
| 2147 | The sight of goodness leads to all that is fine and true and right [Plato] |
| 4007 | For Plato we abandon honour and pleasure once we see the Good [Plato, by Taylor,C] |
| 391 | The good involves beauty, proportion and truth [Plato] |
| 2144 | Goodness makes truth and knowledge possible [Plato] |
| 2164 | Bad is always destructive, where good preserves and benefits [Plato] |
| 295 | The good is beautiful [Plato] |
| 393 | Good first, then beauty, then reason, then knowledge, then pleasure [Plato, by PG] |
| 9274 | Plato's legacy to European thought was the Good, the Beautiful and the True [Plato, by Gray] |
| 177 | If a person is good they will automatically become happy [Plato] |
| 301 | Only knowledge of some sort is good [Plato] |
| 2138 | Pleasure is commonly thought to be the good, though the more ingenious prefer knowledge [Plato] |
| 4322 | In slaking our thirst the goodness of the action and the pleasure are clearly separate [Plato] |
| 94 | Pleasure is better with the addition of intelligence, so pleasure is not the good [Plato, by Aristotle] |
| 136 | Good should be the aim of pleasant activity, not the other way round [Plato] |
| 2070 | Even people who think pleasure is the good admit that there are bad pleasures [Plato] |
| 265 | An action is only just if it is performed by someone with a just character and outlook [Plato] |
| 193 | Some things are good even though they are not beneficial to men [Plato] |
| 269 | Attempted murder is like real murder, but we should respect the luck which avoided total ruin [Plato] |
| 14178 | Happiness is secure enjoyment of what is good and beautiful [Plato] |
| 17947 | Plato decided that the virtuous and happy life was the philosophical life [Plato, by Nehamas] |
| 332 | One should exercise both the mind and the body, to avoid imbalance [Plato] |
| 385 | Some of the pleasures and pains we feel are false [Plato] |
| 387 | A small pure pleasure is much finer than a large one contaminated with pain [Plato] |
| 2157 | Nice smells are intensive, have no preceding pain, and no bad after-effect [Plato] |
| 376 | Would you prefer a life of pleasure without reason, or one of reason without pleasure? [Plato] |
| 382 | It is unlikely that the gods feel either pleasure or pain [Plato] |
| 240 | It would be strange if the gods rewarded those who experienced the most pleasure in life [Plato] |
| 197 | Some pleasures are not good, and some pains are not evil [Plato] |
| 200 | People tend only to disapprove of pleasure if it leads to pain, or prevents future pleasure [Plato] |
| 2134 | Philosophers are concerned with totally non-physical pleasures [Plato] |
| 371 | Reason, memory, truth and wisdom are far better than pleasure, for those who can attain them [Plato] |
| 379 | The good must be sufficient and perfect, and neither intellect nor pleasure are that [Plato] |
| 157 | Most pleasure is release from pain, and is therefore not worthwhile [Plato] |
| 373 | Pleasure is certainly very pleasant, but it doesn't follow that all pleasures are good [Plato] |
| 381 | We feel pleasure when we approach our natural state of harmony [Plato] |
| 2156 | There are three types of pleasure, for reason, for spirit and for appetite [Plato] |
| 328 | Everything that takes place naturally is pleasant [Plato] |
| 361 | It is a mistake to think that the most violent pleasure or pain is therefore the truest reality [Plato] |
| 134 | Good and bad people seem to experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain [Plato] |
| 386 | Intense pleasure and pain are not felt in a good body, but in a worthless one [Plato] |
| 132 | If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness [Plato] |
| 2158 | Pleasure-seekers desperately seek illusory satisfaction, like filling a leaky vessel [Plato] |
| 4319 | In a fool's mind desire is like a leaky jar, insatiable in its desires, and order and contentment are better [Plato] |
| 2123 | Excessive pleasure deranges people, making the other virtues impossible [Plato] |
| 264 | The conquest of pleasure is the noblest victory of all [Plato] |
| 1636 | Wickedness is an illness of the soul [Plato] |
| 2166 | We should behave well even if invisible, for the health of the mind [Plato] |
| 130 | Is the happiest state one of sensual, self-indulgent freedom? [Plato] |
| 377 | If you lived a life of maximum pleasure, would you still be lacking anything? [Plato] |
| 378 | A life of pure pleasure with no intellect is the life of a jellyfish [Plato] |
| 388 | Hedonists must say that someone in pain is bad, even if they are virtuous [Plato] |
| 5 | Justice is merely the interests of the stronger party [Plato] |
| 2097 | Isn't it better to have a reputation for goodness than to actually be good? [Plato] |
| 19946 | Morality is a compromise, showing restraint, to avoid suffering wrong without compensation [Plato] |
| 7 | Surely you don't return a borrowed weapon to a mad friend? [Plato] |
| 8 | Is right just the interests of the powerful? [Plato] |
| 15 | Sin first, then sacrifice to the gods from the proceeds [Plato] |
| 13785 | 'Arete' signifies lack of complexity and a free-flowing soul [Plato] |
| 6015 | Plato, unusually, said that theoretical and practical wisdom are inseparable [Plato, by Kraut] |
| 1581 | Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them [Descartes] |
| 170 | The only slavery which is not dishonourable is slavery to excellence [Plato] |
| 144 | Reason impels us towards excellence, which teaches us self-control [Plato] |
| 5944 | For Plato, virtue is its own reward [Lawson-Tancred on Plato] |
| 4332 | Virtue is a concord of reason and emotion, with pleasure and pain trained to correct ends [Plato] |
| 248 | A serious desire for moral excellence is very rare indeed [Plato] |
| 253 | Every crime is the result of excessive self-love [Plato] |
| 263 | The only worthwhile life is one devoted to physical and moral perfection [Plato] |
| 120 | Should we avoid evil because it will bring us bad consequences? [Plato] |
| 182 | The first step on the right path is the contemplation of physical beauty when young [Plato] |
| 1927 | It seems that virtue is neither natural nor taught, but is a divine gift [Plato] |
| 189 | If we punish wrong-doers, it shows that we believe virtue can be taught [Plato] |
| 235 | Virtue is the aim of all laws [Plato] |
| 1913 | Is virtue taught, or achieved by practice, or a natural aptitude, or what? [Plato] |
| 1921 | If virtue is a type of knowledge then it ought to be taught [Plato] |
| 204 | Socrates is contradicting himself in claiming virtue can't be taught, but that it is knowledge [Plato] |
| 188 | Socrates did not believe that virtue could be taught [Plato] |
| 118 | I would rather be a victim of crime than a criminal [Plato] |
| 305 | Something which lies midway between two evils is better than either of them [Plato] |
| 281 | The arts produce good and beautiful things by preserving the mean [Plato] |
| 1918 | How can you know part of virtue without knowing the whole? [Plato] |
| 2155 | True goodness requires mental unity and harmony [Plato] |
| 277 | The Guardians must aim to discover the common element in the four cardinal virtues [Plato] |
| 1916 | Even if virtues are many and various, they must have something in common to make them virtues [Plato] |
| 4016 | Descartes makes strength of will the central virtue [Descartes, by Taylor,C] |
| 2126 | A good community necessarily has wisdom, courage, self-discipline and morality [Plato] |
| 140 | Self-indulgent desire makes friendship impossible, because it makes a person incapable of co-operation [Plato] |
| 131 | If absence of desire is happiness, then nothing is happier than a stone or a corpse [Plato] |
| 254 | Excessive laughter and tears must be avoided [Plato] |
| 119 | A criminal is worse off if he avoids punishment [Plato] |
| 2092 | Simonides said morality is helping one's friends and harming one's enemies [Plato] |
| 266 | Injustice is the mastery of the soul by bad feelings, even if they do not lead to harm [Plato] |
| 23562 | If the parts of our soul do their correct work, we will be just people, and will act justly [Plato] |
| 129 | Do most people praise self-discipline and justice because they are too timid to gain their own pleasure? [Plato] |
| 293 | Being unafraid (perhaps through ignorance) and being brave are two different things [Plato] |
| 4320 | The popular view is that health is first, good looks second, and honest wealth third [Plato] |
| 242 | The best people are produced where there is no excess of wealth or poverty [Plato] |
| 256 | Virtue and great wealth are incompatible [Plato] |
| 351 | War aims at the acquisition of wealth, because we are enslaved to the body [Plato] |
| 294 | People say that friendship exists only between good men [Plato] |
| 156 | Bad people are never really friends with one another [Plato] |
| 2912 | Plato is boring [Nietzsche on Plato] |
| 3635 | Essence must be known before we discuss existence [Descartes] |
| 19889 | People need society because the individual has too many needs [Plato] |
| 137 | As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato] |
| 19890 | All exchanges in a community are for mutual benefit [Plato] |
| 10 | After a taste of mutual harm, men make a legal contract to avoid it [Plato] |
| 23561 | People doing their jobs properly is the fourth cardinal virtue for a city [Plato] |
| 245 | Totalitarian states destroy friendships and community spirit [Plato] |
| 2149 | Reluctant rulers make a better and more unified administration [Plato] |
| 2132 | Only rule by philosophers of integrity can keep a community healthy [Plato] |
| 22559 | Democracy is the worst of good constitutions, but the best of bad constitutions [Plato, by Aristotle] |
| 141 | A good citizen won't be passive, but will redirect the needs of the state [Plato] |
| 239 | Education in virtue produces citizens who are active but obedient [Plato] |
| 2131 | Is there anything better for a community than to produce excellent people? [Plato] |
| 262 | Men and women should qualify equally for honours on merit [Plato] |
| 123 | Do most people like equality because they are second-rate? [Plato] |
| 1402 | Friendship is impossible between master and slave, even if they are made equal [Plato] |
| 124 | Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits? [Plato] |
| 236 | Sound laws achieve the happiness of those who observe them [Plato] |
| 259 | Justice is granting the equality which unequals deserve [Plato] |
| 322 | Intelligence is the result of rational teaching; true opinion can result from irrational persuasion [Plato] |
| 2152 | Dialectic is the highest and most important part of the curriculum [Plato] |
| 257 | Mathematics has the widest application of any subject on the curriculum [Plato] |
| 331 | Bad governments prevent discussion, and discourage the study of virtue [Plato] |
| 238 | Children's games should channel their pleasures into adult activity [Plato] |
| 260 | Control of education is the key office of state, and should go to the best citizen [Plato] |
| 2148 | To gain knowledge, turn away from the world of change, and focus on true goodness [Plato] |
| 250 | The best way to educate the young is not to rebuke them, but to set a good example [Plato] |
| 222 | Only a great person can understand the essence of things, and an even greater person can teach it [Plato] |
| 4331 | Education is channelling a child's feelings into the right course before it understands why [Plato] |
| 2153 | Compulsory intellectual work never remains in the mind [Plato] |
| 1638 | Didactic education is hard work and achieves little [Plato] |
| 298 | While sex is very pleasant, it should be in secret, as it looks contemptible [Plato] |
| 19676 | Nature is devoid of thought [Descartes, by Meillassoux] |
| 15987 | Physics only needs geometry or abstract mathematics, which can explain and demonstrate everything [Descartes] |
| 311 | The cosmos must be unique, because it resembles the creator, who is unique [Plato] |
| 310 | The creator of the cosmos had no envy, and so wanted things to be as like himself as possible [Plato] |
| 275 | Creation is not for you; you exist for the sake of creation [Plato] |
| 2280 | Many causes are quite baffling, so it is absurd to deduce causes from final purposes [Descartes] |
| 12730 | We will not try to understand natural or divine ends, or final causes [Descartes] |
| 24023 | All the sciences searching for order and measure are related to mathematics [Descartes] |
| 225 | The unlimited has no shape and is endless [Plato] |
| 233 | Some things do not partake of the One [Plato] |
| 2062 | The only movement possible for the One is in space or in alteration [Plato] |
| 231 | Everything partakes of the One in some way [Plato] |
| 16569 | The Hot, Cold, Wet and Dry of the philosophers need themselves to be explained [Descartes] |
| 325 | We must consider the four basic shapes as too small to see, only becoming visible in large numbers [Plato] |
| 16684 | Impenetrability only belongs to the essence of extension [Descartes] |
| 6518 | Matter can't just be Descartes's geometry, because a filler of the spaces is needed [Robinson,H on Descartes] |
| 16601 | Matter is not hard, heavy or coloured, but merely extended in space [Descartes] |
| 327 | There are two types of cause, the necessary and the divine [Plato] |
| 13156 | Fancy being unable to distinguish a cause from its necessary background conditions! [Plato] |
| 2272 | There must be at least as much in the cause as there is in the effect [Descartes] |
| 16686 | God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us [Descartes] |
| 20964 | Descartes said there was conservation of 'quantity of motion' [Descartes, by Papineau] |
| 314 | Heavenly movements gave us the idea of time, and caused us to inquire about the heavens [Plato] |
| 1526 | Almost everyone except Plato thinks that time could not have been generated [Plato, by Aristotle] |
| 312 | Time came into existence with the heavens, so that there will be a time when they can be dissolved [Plato] |
| 369 | If the Earth is spherical and in the centre, it is kept in place by universal symmetry, not by force [Plato] |
| 309 | Clearly the world is good, so its maker must have been concerned with the eternal, not with change [Plato] |
| 273 | Movement is transmitted through everything, and it must have started with self-generated motion [Plato] |
| 148 | If the prime origin is destroyed, it will not come into being again out of anything [Plato] |
| 308 | If the cosmos is an object of perception then it must be continually changing [Plato] |
| 13779 | The natural offspring of a lion is called a 'lion' (but what about the offspring of a king?) [Plato] |
| 279 | Only divine things can always stay the same, and bodies are not like that [Plato] |
| 2269 | God the creator is an intelligent, infinite, powerful substance [Descartes] |
| 13783 | Even the gods love play [Plato] |
| 2289 | Nothing apart from God could have essential existence, and such a being must be unique and eternal [Descartes] |
| 175 | Gods are not lovers of wisdom, because they are already wise [Plato] |
| 152 | The mind of God is fully satisfied and happy with a vision of reality and truth [Plato] |
| 2275 | It is self-evident that deception is a natural defect, so God could not be a deceiver [Descartes] |
| 2630 | If Plato's God is immaterial, he will lack consciousness, wisdom, pleasure and movement, which are essential to him [Cicero on Plato] |
| 337 | It seems that the gods love things because they are pious, rather than making them pious by loving them [Plato] |
| 336 | Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it? (the 'Euthyphro Question') [Plato] |
| 2058 | God must be the epitome of goodness, and we can only approach a divine state by being as good as possible [Plato] |
| 3637 | Ideas in God's mind only have value if he makes it so [Descartes] |
| 8004 | In 'The Laws', to obey the law is to be obey god [Plato, by MacIntyre] |
| 2274 | The idea of God in my mind is like the mark a craftsman puts on his work [Descartes] |
| 3639 | Necessary existence is a property which is uniquely part of God's essence [Descartes] |
| 3640 | Possible existence is a perfection in the idea of a triangle [Descartes] |
| 2268 | One idea leads to another, but there must be an initial idea that contains the reality of all the others [Descartes] |
| 2288 | I cannot think of a supremely perfect being without the supreme perfection of existence [Descartes] |
| 234 | We couldn't discuss the non-existence of the One without knowledge of it [Plato] |
| 2287 | Existence and God's essence are inseparable, like a valley and a mountain, or a triangle and its properties [Descartes] |
| 3632 | We mustn't worship God as an image because we have no idea of him [Hobbes on Descartes] |
| 3633 | We can never conceive of an infinite being [Gassendi on Descartes] |
| 5036 | Descartes cannot assume that a most perfect being exists without contradictions [Leibniz on Descartes] |
| 3638 | Existence is not a perfection; it is what makes perfection possible [Gassendi on Descartes] |
| 21258 | The only possible beginning for the endless motions of reality is something self-generated [Plato] |
| 3634 | We can't prove a first cause from our inability to grasp infinity [Descartes] |
| 21257 | Self-generating motion is clearly superior to all other kinds of motion [Plato] |
| 21261 | Self-moving soul has to be the oldest thing there is [Plato] |
| 274 | Soul must be the cause of all the opposites, such as good and evil or beauty and ugliness [Plato] |
| 21263 | If all the motions of nature reflect calculations of reason, then the best kind of soul must direct it [Plato] |
| 14 | If the gods are non-existent or indifferent, why bother to deceive them? [Plato] |
| 150 | We cannot conceive of God, so we have to think of Him as an immortal version of ourselves [Plato] |
| 149 | There isn't a single reason for positing the existence of immortal beings [Plato] |
| 278 | If astronomical movements are seen as necessary instead of by divine will, this leads to atheism [Plato] |
| 16712 | Atheism is an atrocious and intolerable crime in any country [Descartes] |
| 3660 | Atheism arises from empiricism, because God is intangible [Descartes] |
| 21265 | The heavens must be full of gods, controlling nature either externally or from within [Plato] |
| 21262 | There must be at least two souls controlling the cosmos, one doing good, the other the opposite [Plato] |
| 16772 | An angelic mind would not experience pain, even when connected to a human body [Descartes, by Pasnau] |
| 146 | Soul is always in motion, so it must be self-moving and immortal [Plato] |
| 363 | Whether the soul pre-exists our body depends on whether it contains the ultimate standard of reality [Plato] |
| 2165 | Something is unlikely to be immortal if it is imperfectly made from diverse parts [Plato] |
| 3652 | I can't prove the soul is indestructible, only that it is separate from the mortal body [Descartes] |
| 13 | Is the supreme reward for virtue to be drunk for eternity? [Plato] |
| 2057 | There must always be some force of evil ranged against good [Plato] |
| 2278 | Error arises because my faculty for judging truth is not infinite [Descartes] |
| 2277 | Since God does not wish to deceive me, my judgement won't make errors if I use it properly [Descartes] |
| 3636 | God didn't give us good judgement even about our own lives [Gassendi on Descartes] |
| 2120 | God is responsible for the good things, but we must look elsewhere for the cause of the bad things [Plato] |
| 2281 | If we ask whether God's works are perfect, we must not take a narrow viewpoint, but look at the universe as a whole [Descartes] |