154 ideas
22659 | It is wisdom to believe what you desire, because belief is needed to achieve it [James] |
421 | Men who love wisdom must be inquirers into very many things indeed [Heraclitus] |
22657 | All good philosophers start from a dumb conviction about which truths can be revealed [James] |
1491 | Everyone has the potential for self-knowledge and sound thinking [Heraclitus] |
3798 | An overexamined life is as bad as an unexamined one [Dennett] |
5863 | Reason is eternal, but men are foolish [Heraclitus] |
22647 | A complete system is just a classification of the whole world's ingredients [James] |
414 | Logos is common to all, but most people live as if they have a private understanding [Heraclitus] |
22648 | A single explanation must have a single point of view [James] |
3801 | Rationality requires the assumption that things are either for better or worse [Dennett] |
22642 | Man has an intense natural interest in the consistency of his own thinking [James] |
416 | Beautiful harmony comes from things that are in opposition to one another [Heraclitus] |
425 | A thing can have opposing tensions but be in harmony, like a lyre [Heraclitus] |
22644 | Our greatest pleasure is the economy of reducing chaotic facts to one single fact [James] |
6710 | You can only define a statement that something is 'true' by referring to its functional possibilities [James] |
18986 | Truth is just a name for verification-processes [James] |
18983 | In many cases there is no obvious way in which ideas can agree with their object [James] |
18972 | Ideas are true in so far as they co-ordinate our experiences [James] |
18973 | New opinions count as 'true' if they are assimilated to an individual's current beliefs [James] |
18984 | True ideas are those we can assimilate, validate, corroborate and verify (and false otherwise) [James] |
22305 | If the hypothesis of God is widely successful, it is true [James] |
1312 | If everything is and isn't then everything is true, and a midway between true and false makes everything false [Aristotle on Heraclitus] |
22641 | Realities just are, and beliefs are true of them [James] |
22649 | Classification can only ever be for a particular purpose [James] |
15658 | The hidden harmony is stronger than the visible [Heraclitus] |
14308 | We can bring dispositions into existence, as in creating an identifier [Dennett, by Mumford] |
18987 | A 'thing' is simply carved out of reality for human purposes [James] |
13782 | Everything gives way, and nothing stands fast [Heraclitus] |
18981 | 'Substance' is just a word for groupings and structures in experience [James] |
11853 | A mixed drink separates if it is not stirred [Heraclitus] |
7384 | Words are fixed by being attached to similarity clusters, without mention of 'essences' [Dennett] |
427 | It is not possible to step twice into the same river [Heraclitus] |
11091 | You can bathe in the same river twice, but not in the same river stage [Quine on Heraclitus] |
2064 | If flux is continuous, then lack of change can't be a property, so everything changes in every possible way [Plato on Heraclitus] |
2526 | Philosophers regularly confuse failures of imagination with insights into necessity [Dennett] |
3802 | Why pronounce impossible what you cannot imagine? [Dennett] |
18974 | Truth is a species of good, being whatever proves itself good in the way of belief [James] |
7374 | Light wavelengths entering the eye are only indirectly related to object colours [Dennett] |
430 | Senses are no use if the soul is corrupt [Heraclitus] |
18989 | Pragmatism accepts any hypothesis which has useful consequences [James] |
1500 | When we sleep, reason closes down as the senses do [Heraclitus, by Sext.Empiricus] |
2523 | That every mammal has a mother is a secure reality, but without foundations [Dennett] |
22640 | We find satisfaction in consistency of all of our beliefs, perceptions and mental connections [James] |
3795 | Causal theories require the "right" sort of link (usually unspecified) [Dennett] |
417 | Donkeys prefer chaff to gold [Heraclitus] |
426 | Sea water is life-giving for fish, but not for people [Heraclitus] |
431 | Health, feeding and rest are only made good by disease, hunger and weariness [Heraclitus] |
22655 | Scientific genius extracts more than other people from the same evidence [James] |
22658 | Experimenters assume the theory is true, and stick to it as long as result don't disappoint [James] |
18971 | Theories are practical tools for progress, not answers to enigmas [James] |
18985 | True thoughts are just valuable instruments of action [James] |
18982 | Pragmatism says all theories are instrumental - that is, mental modes of adaptation to reality [James] |
7369 | Brains are essentially anticipation machines [Dennett] |
22654 | We can't know if the laws of nature are stable, but we must postulate it or assume it [James] |
22656 | Trying to assess probabilities by mere calculation is absurd and impossible [James] |
22646 | We have a passion for knowing the parts of something, rather than the whole [James] |
22652 | The mind has evolved entirely for practical interests, seen in our reflex actions [James] |
4608 | Minds are hard-wired, or trial-and-error, or experimental, or full self-aware [Dennett, by Heil] |
22651 | Dogs' curiosity only concerns what will happen next [James] |
7367 | Perhaps the brain doesn't 'fill in' gaps in consciousness if no one is looking. [Dennett] |
4880 | Sentience comes in grades from robotic to super-human; we only draw a line for moral reasons [Dennett] |
7393 | We can't draw a clear line between conscious and unconscious [Dennett] |
2528 | Does consciousness need the concept of consciousness? [Dennett] |
2525 | Maybe language is crucial to consciousness [Dennett] |
9286 | Consciousness is not a stuff, but is explained by the relations between experiences [James] |
7394 | Conscious events can only be explained in terms of unconscious events [Dennett] |
7391 | We can know a lot of what it is like to be a bat, and nothing important is unknown [Dennett] |
3158 | Theories of intentionality presuppose rationality, so can't explain it [Dennett] |
2527 | Unconscious intentionality is the foundation of the mind [Dennett] |
6624 | Dennett denies the existence of qualia [Dennett, by Lowe] |
4873 | What is it like to notice an uncomfortable position when you are asleep? [Dennett] |
7387 | "Qualia" can be replaced by complex dispositional brain states [Dennett] |
7658 | Obviously there can't be a functional anaylsis of qualia if they are defined by intrinsic properties [Dennett] |
7376 | We can't assume that dispositions will remain normal when qualia have been inverted [Dennett] |
7372 | In peripheral vision we see objects without their details, so blindsight is not that special [Dennett] |
7373 | Blindsight subjects glean very paltry information [Dennett] |
3797 | I am the sum total of what I directly control [Dennett] |
7385 | People accept blurred boundaries in many things, but insist self is All or Nothing [Dennett] |
4881 | Being a person must involve having second-order beliefs and desires (about beliefs and desires) [Dennett] |
7383 | The psychological self is an abstraction, not a thing in the brain [Dennett] |
7386 | Selves are not soul-pearls, but artefacts of social processes [Dennett] |
7381 | We tell stories about ourselves, to protect, control and define who we are [Dennett] |
7382 | We spin narratives about ourselves, and the audience posits a centre of gravity for them [Dennett] |
7370 | The brain is controlled by shifting coalitions, guided by good purposeful habits [Dennett] |
7655 | The work done by the 'homunculus in the theatre' must be spread amongst non-conscious agencies [Dennett] |
3800 | You can be free even though force would have prevented you doing otherwise [Dennett, by PG] |
3803 | Can we conceive of a being with a will freer than our own? [Dennett] |
3791 | Awareness of thought is a step beyond awareness of the world [Dennett] |
3794 | Foreknowledge permits control [Dennett] |
7379 | If an epiphenomenon has no physical effects, it has to be undetectable [Dennett] |
7365 | Dualism wallows in mystery, and to accept it is to give up [Dennett] |
3159 | Beliefs and desires aren't real; they are prediction techniques [Dennett] |
3796 | The active self is a fiction created because we are ignorant of our motivations [Dennett] |
3161 | If mind is just an explanation, the explainer must have beliefs [Rey on Dennett] |
3986 | The 'intentional stance' is a way of interpreting an entity by assuming it is rational and self-aware [Dennett] |
2530 | Could a robot be made conscious just by software? [Dennett] |
7371 | All functionalism is 'homuncular', of one grain size or another [Dennett] |
4875 | We descend from robots, and our intentionality is composed of billions of crude intentional systems [Dennett] |
4879 | There is no more anger in adrenaline than silliness in a bottle of whiskey [Dennett] |
7657 | Intelligent agents are composed of nested homunculi, of decreasing intelligence, ending in machines [Dennett] |
7656 | I don't deny consciousness; it just isn't what people think it is [Dennett] |
9285 | 'Consciousness' is a nonentity, a mere echo of the disappearing 'soul' [James] |
7366 | It is arbitrary to say which moment of brain processing is conscious [Dennett] |
7380 | Visual experience is composed of neural activity, which we find pleasing [Dennett] |
4876 | Maybe there is a minimum brain speed for supporting a mind [Dennett] |
4878 | The materials for a mind only matter because of speed, and a need for transducers and effectors [Dennett] |
23981 | Rage is inconceivable without bodily responses; so there are no disembodied emotions [James] |
3177 | You couldn't drive a car without folk psychology [Dennett] |
3987 | Like the 'centre of gravity', desires and beliefs are abstract concepts with no actual existence [Dennett] |
22650 | How can the ground of rationality be itself rational? [James] |
22643 | It seems that we feel rational when we detect no irrationality [James] |
4874 | The predecessor and rival of the language of thought hypothesis is the picture theory of ideas [Dennett] |
2524 | A language of thought doesn't explain content [Dennett] |
7654 | What matters about neuro-science is the discovery of the functional role of the chemistry [Dennett] |
23803 | States have content if we can predict them well by assuming intentionality [Dennett, by Schulte] |
3984 | The nature of content is entirely based on its functional role [Dennett] |
18975 | We return to experience with concepts, where they show us differences [James] |
4882 | Concepts are things we (unlike dogs) can think about, because we have language [Dennett] |
2529 | Maybe there can be non-conscious concepts (e.g. in bees) [Dennett] |
429 | To God (though not to humans) all things are beautiful and good and just [Heraclitus] |
12294 | Good and evil are the same thing [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
22660 | Evolution suggests prevailing or survival as a new criterion of right and wrong [James] |
419 | If one does not hope, one will not find the unhoped-for, since nothing leads to it [Heraclitus] |
415 | If happiness is bodily pleasure, then oxen are happy when they have vetch to eat [Heraclitus] |
5155 | It is hard to fight against emotion, but harder still to fight against pleasure [Heraclitus] |
433 | For man character is destiny [Heraclitus] |
6570 | Imagine millions made happy on condition that one person suffers endless lonely torture [James] |
422 | The people should fight for the law as if for their city-wall [Heraclitus] |
3983 | Learning is evolution in the brain [Dennett] |
4872 | Most people see an abortion differently if the foetus lacks a brain [Dennett] |
7368 | Originally there were no reasons, purposes or functions; since there were no interests, there were only causes [Dennett] |
614 | Heraclitus said sometimes everything becomes fire [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
424 | Reason tells us that all things are one [Heraclitus] |
5096 | Heraclitus says that at some time everything becomes fire [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
17539 | The sayings of Heraclitus are still correct, if we replace 'fire' with 'energy' [Heraclitus, by Heisenberg] |
3054 | Heraclitus said fire could be transformed to create the other lower elements [Heraclitus, by Diog. Laertius] |
15660 | Logos is the source of everything, and my theories separate and explain each nature [Heraclitus] |
22645 | Understanding by means of causes is useless if they are not reduced to a minimum number [James] |
12269 | All things are in a state of motion [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
420 | The cosmos is eternal not created, and is an ever-living and changing fire [Heraclitus] |
3985 | Biology is a type of engineering, not a search for laws of nature [Dennett] |
4877 | Maybe plants are very slow (and sentient) animals, overlooked because we are faster? [Dennett] |
3804 | Darwin's idea was the best idea ever [Dennett] |
18980 | If there is a 'greatest knower', it doesn't follow that they know absolutely everything [James] |
18978 | It is hard to grasp a cosmic mind which produces such a mixture of goods and evils [James] |
18991 | If the God hypothesis works well, then it is true [James] |
1499 | Heraclitus says intelligence draws on divine reason [Heraclitus, by Sext.Empiricus] |
18977 | The wonderful design of a woodpecker looks diabolical to its victims [James] |
18979 | Things with parts always have some structure, so they always appear to be designed [James] |
18976 | Private experience is the main evidence for God [James] |
15659 | Purifying yourself with blood is as crazy as using mud to wash off mud [Heraclitus] |
22653 | Early Christianity says God recognises the neglected weak and tender impulses [James] |
18990 | Nirvana means safety from sense experience, and hindus and buddhists are just afraid of life [James] |
1501 | In their ignorance people pray to statues, which is like talking to a house [Heraclitus] |