109 ideas
| 23350 | A wise philosophers uses reason to cautiously judge each aspect of living [Epictetus] |
| 1606 | You have to be a Platonist to debate about reality, so every philosopher is a Platonist [Roochnik] |
| 23355 | The task of philosophy is to establish standards, as occurs with weights and measures [Epictetus] |
| 23367 | Even pointing a finger should only be done for a reason [Epictetus] |
| 21394 | Philosophy is knowing each logos, how they fit together, and what follows from them [Epictetus] |
| 20876 | Philosophy investigates the causes of disagreements, and seeks a standard for settling them [Epictetus] |
| 21970 | Philosophy attains its goal if one person feels perfect accord between their system and experience [Fichte] |
| 1595 | Philosophy aims to satisfy the chief human desire - the articulation of beauty itself [Roochnik] |
| 1571 | 'Logos' ranges from thought/reasoning, to words, to rational structures outside thought [Roochnik] |
| 1572 | In the seventeenth century the only acceptable form of logos was technical knowledge [Roochnik] |
| 1573 | The hallmark of a person with logos is that they give reasons why one opinion is superior to another [Roochnik] |
| 1592 | Logos cannot refute the relativist, and so must admit that it too is a matter of desire (for truth and agreement) [Roochnik] |
| 1593 | Human desire has an ordered structure, with logos at the pinnacle [Roochnik] |
| 1603 | Logos is not unconditionally good, but good if there is another person willing to engage with it [Roochnik] |
| 1598 | We prefer reason or poetry according to whether basics are intelligible or not [Roochnik] |
| 22024 | Fichte's subjectivity struggles to then give any account of objectivity [Pinkard on Fichte] |
| 6912 | For Fichte there is no God outside the ego, and 'our religion is reason' [Fichte, by Feuerbach] |
| 23247 | The need to act produces consciousness, and practical reason is the root of all reason [Fichte] |
| 23344 | Reason itself must be compounded from some of our impressions [Epictetus] |
| 1584 | Modern science, by aiming for clarity about the external world, has abandoned rationality in the human world [Roochnik] |
| 1591 | Unfortunately for reason, argument can't be used to establish the value of argument [Roochnik] |
| 1599 | Attempts to suspend all presuppositions are hopeless, because a common ground must be agreed for the process [Roochnik] |
| 23343 | Because reason performs all analysis, we should analyse reason - but how? [Epictetus] |
| 23232 | Sufficient reason makes the transition from the particular to the general [Fichte] |
| 22017 | Normativity needs the possibility of negation, in affirmation and denial [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 1605 | Reality can be viewed neutrally, or as an object of desire [Roochnik] |
| 23227 | Each object has a precise number of properties, each to a precise degree [Fichte] |
| 23228 | The principle of activity and generation is found in a self-moving basic force [Fichte] |
| 22018 | Necessary truths derive from basic assertion and negation [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 23359 | We can't believe apparent falsehoods, or deny apparent truths [Epictetus] |
| 22062 | Mental presentation are not empirical, but concern the strivings of the self [Fichte] |
| 22015 | The thing-in-itself is an empty dream [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 22064 | Fichte's logic is much too narrow, and doesn't deduce ethics, art, society or life [Schlegel,F on Fichte] |
| 21973 | Fichte believed in things-in-themselves [Fichte, by Moore,AW] |
| 21914 | We can deduce experience from self-consciousness, without the thing-in-itself [Fichte] |
| 23241 | I am myself, but not the external object; so I only sense myself, and not the object [Fichte] |
| 22032 | Fichte's key claim was that the subjective-objective distinction must itself be subjective [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 20951 | The absolute I divides into consciousness, and a world which is not-I [Fichte, by Bowie] |
| 21964 | Reason arises from freedom, so philosophy starts from the self, and not from the laws of nature [Fichte] |
| 21968 | Abandon the thing-in-itself; things only exist in relation to our thinking [Fichte] |
| 21966 | Self-consciousness is the basis of knowledge, and knowing something is knowing myself [Fichte] |
| 21967 | There is nothing to say about anything which is outside my consciousness [Fichte] |
| 21969 | Awareness of reality comes from the free activity of consciousness [Fichte] |
| 23356 | Self-evidence is most obvious when people who deny a proposition still have to use it [Epictetus] |
| 23231 | I immediately know myself, and anything beyond that is an inference [Fichte] |
| 23246 | Faith is not knowledge; it is a decision of the will [Fichte] |
| 23245 | Knowledge can't be its own foundation; there has to be regress of higher and higher authorities [Fichte] |
| 1577 | Relativism is a disease which destroys the possibility of rational debate [Roochnik] |
| 23242 | Consciousness has two parts, passively receiving sensation, and actively causing productions [Fichte] |
| 22020 | We only see ourselves as self-conscious and rational in relation to other rationalities [Fichte] |
| 23240 | We can't know by sight or hearing without realising that we are doing so [Fichte] |
| 22060 | The Self is the spontaneity, self-relatedness and unity needed for knowledge [Fichte, by Siep] |
| 22066 | Novalis sought a much wider concept of the ego than Fichte's proposal [Novalis on Fichte] |
| 22016 | The self is not a 'thing', but what emerges from an assertion of normativity [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 23243 | Consciousness of external things is always accompanied by an unnoticed consciousness of self [Fichte] |
| 22019 | Consciousness of an object always entails awareness of the self [Fichte] |
| 22063 | Effective individuals must posit a specific material body for themselves [Fichte] |
| 23244 | Forming purposes is absolutely free, and produces something from nothing [Fichte] |
| 23237 | The capacity for freedom is above the laws of nature, with its own power of purpose and will [Fichte] |
| 23329 | We make progress when we improve and naturalise our choices, asserting their freedom [Epictetus] |
| 23342 | Freedom is acting by choice, with no constraint possible [Epictetus] |
| 23330 | Freedom is making all things happen by choice, without constraint [Epictetus] |
| 23332 | Zeus gave me a nature which is free (like himself) from all compulsion [Epictetus] |
| 23235 | I want independent control of the fundamental cause of my decisions [Fichte] |
| 23331 | Not even Zeus can control what I choose [Epictetus] |
| 23338 | You can fetter my leg, but not even Zeus can control my power of choice [Epictetus] |
| 21965 | Spinoza could not actually believe his determinism, because living requires free will [Fichte] |
| 20875 | If we could foresee the future, we should collaborate with disease and death [Epictetus] |
| 23347 | If I know I am fated to be ill, I should want to be ill [Epictetus] |
| 23230 | Nature contains a fundamental force of thought [Fichte] |
| 22061 | Judgement is distinguishing concepts, and seeing their relations [Fichte, by Siep] |
| 1578 | If relativism is the correct account of human values, then rhetoric is more important than reasoning [Roochnik] |
| 1596 | Reasoning aims not at the understanding of objects, but at the desire to give beautiful speeches [Roochnik] |
| 23233 | The will is awareness of one of our inner natural forces [Fichte] |
| 23325 | Epictetus developed a notion of will as the source of our responsibility [Epictetus, by Frede,M] |
| 20873 | Tragedies are versified sufferings of people impressed by externals [Epictetus] |
| 23364 | Homer wrote to show that the most blessed men can be ruined by poor judgement [Epictetus] |
| 23340 | We consist of animal bodies and god-like reason [Epictetus] |
| 23366 | We see nature's will in the ways all people are the same [Epictetus] |
| 23234 | I cannot change the nature which has been determined for me [Fichte] |
| 23358 | Every species produces exceptional beings, and we must just accept their nature [Epictetus] |
| 23239 | The self is, apart from outward behaviour, a drive in your nature [Fichte] |
| 22023 | Fichte's idea of spontaneity implied that nothing counts unless we give it status [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 23339 | I will die as becomes a person returning what he does not own [Epictetus] |
| 23345 | Don't be frightened of pain or death; only be frightened of fearing them [Epictetus] |
| 23238 | If life lacks love it becomes destruction [Fichte] |
| 23357 | Knowledge of what is good leads to love; only the wise, who distinguish good from evil, can love [Epictetus] |
| 23363 | The evil for everything is what is contrary to its nature [Epictetus] |
| 23328 | The essences of good and evil are in dispositions to choose [Epictetus] |
| 23362 | All human ills result from failure to apply preconceptions to particular cases [Epictetus] |
| 23353 | We have a natural sense of honour [Epictetus] |
| 23354 | If someone harms themselves in harming me, then I harm myself by returning the harm [Epictetus] |
| 23324 | In the Discourses choice [prohairesis] defines our character and behaviour [Epictetus, by Frede,M] |
| 4022 | Epictetus says we should console others for misfortune, but not be moved by pity [Epictetus, by Taylor,C] |
| 23365 | If someone is weeping, you should sympathise and help, but not share his suffering [Epictetus] |
| 23361 | Health is only a good when it is used well [Epictetus] |
| 23236 | Freedom means making yourself become true to your essential nature [Fichte] |
| 23346 | A person is as naturally a part of a city as a foot is part of the body [Epictetus] |
| 23351 | We are citizens of the universe, and principal parts of it [Epictetus] |
| 20874 | A citizen is committed to ignore private advantage, and seek communal good [Epictetus] |
| 23352 | A citizen should only consider what is good for the whole society [Epictetus] |
| 22604 | Punishing a criminal for moral ignorance is the same as punishing someone for being blind [Epictetus] |
| 23368 | Perhaps we should persuade culprits that their punishment is just? [Epictetus] |
| 23229 | Nature is wholly interconnected, and the tiniest change affects everything [Fichte] |
| 22065 | Fichte reduces nature to a lifeless immobility [Schlegel,F on Fichte] |
| 23349 | Asses are born to carry human burdens, not as ends in themselves [Epictetus] |
| 23341 | God created humans as spectators and interpreters of God's works [Epictetus] |
| 23348 | Both god and the good bring benefits, so their true nature seems to be the same [Epictetus] |
| 23360 | Each of the four elements in you is entirely scattered after death [Epictetus] |