684 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] |
21875 | The wisdom of a free man is a meditation on life, not on death [Spinoza] |
17230 | If we are not wholly wise, we should live by good rules and maxims [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
2083 | Either a syllable is its letters (making parts as knowable as whole) or it isn't (meaning it has no parts) [Plato] |
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] |
23682 | It would be absurd to be precise about the small things, but only vague about the big things [Plato] |
17200 | We must be careful to keep words distinct from ideas and images [Spinoza] |
1645 | The desire to split everything into its parts is unpleasant and unphilosophical [Plato] |
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] |
350 | In investigation the body leads us astray, but the soul gets a clear view of the facts [Plato] |
17194 | Reason only explains what is universal, so it is timeless, under a certain form of eternity [Spinoza] |
4840 | Reason perceives things under a certain form of eternity [Spinoza] |
241 | We ought to follow where the argument leads us [Plato] |
17213 | In so far as men live according to reason, they will agree with one another [Spinoza] |
19917 | Without reason and human help, human life is misery [Spinoza] |
2082 | A rational account is essentially a weaving together of things with names [Plato] |
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] |
4819 | There is necessarily for each existent thing a cause why it should exist [Spinoza] |
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] |
16541 | All the intrinsic properties of a thing should be deducible from its definition [Spinoza] |
15854 | A primary element has only a name, and no logos, but complexes have an account, by weaving the names [Plato] |
21864 | Truth is its own standard [Spinoza] |
251 | Truth has the supreme value, for both gods and men [Plato] |
8018 | Spinoza's life shows that love of truth which he proclaims as the highest value [MacIntyre on Spinoza] |
5641 | For Spinoza, 'adequacy' is the intrinsic mark of truth [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
13776 | Truths say of what is that it is, falsehoods say of what is that it is not [Plato] |
4816 | A true idea must correspond with its ideate or object [Spinoza] |
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] |
20309 | If our ideas are adequate, what follows from them is also adequate [Spinoza] |
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] |
17185 | Mathematics deals with the essences and properties of forms [Spinoza] |
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] |
17222 | The sum of its angles follows from a triangle's nature [Spinoza] |
17197 | The idea of a triangle involves truths about it, so those are part of its essence [Spinoza] |
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] |
17174 | Outside the mind, there are just things and their properties [Spinoza] |
17176 | The more reality a thing has, the more attributes it has [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
17179 | There must always be a reason or cause why some triangle does or does not exist [Spinoza] |
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] |
17186 | Men say they prefer order, not realising that we imagine the order [Spinoza] |
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] |
20127 | Laws of nature are universal, so everything must be understood through those laws [Spinoza] |
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] |
17170 | An 'attribute' is what the intellect takes as constituting an essence [Spinoza] |
17171 | A 'mode' is an aspect of a substance, and conceived through that substance [Spinoza] |
17195 | Things persevere through a force which derives from God [Spinoza] |
17206 | The essence of a thing is its effort to persevere [Spinoza] |
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] |
16122 | Good thinkers spot forms spread through things, or included within some larger form [Plato] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
17192 | The 'universal' term 'man' is just imagining whatever is the same in a multitude of men [Spinoza] |
565 | The Forms cannot be changeless if they are in changing things [Aristotle on Plato] |
557 | A Form is a cause of things only in the way that white mixed with white is a cause [Aristotle on Plato] |
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] |
17188 | A thing is unified if its parts produce a single effect [Spinoza] |
15856 | A thing can become one or many, depending on how we talk about it [Plato] |
5639 | Spinoza implies that thought is impossible without the notion of substance [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
593 | Plato's holds that there are three substances: Forms, mathematical entities, and perceptible bodies [Plato, by Aristotle] |
21857 | Substance is the power of self-actualisation [Spinoza, by Lord] |
4813 | Substance is that of which an independent conception can be formed [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
4828 | The essence of a thing is what is required for it to exist or be conceived [Spinoza] |
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] |
11238 | Plato and Aristotle take essence to make a thing what it is [Plato, by Politis] |
17187 | Essence gives existence and conception to things, and is inseparable from them [Spinoza] |
17191 | Nothing is essential if it is in every part, and is common to everything [Spinoza] |
17184 | All natures of things produce some effect [Spinoza] |
4869 | Experience does not teach us any essences of things [Spinoza] |
13772 | Is the being or essence of each thing private to each person? [Plato] |
16516 | The ship which Theseus took to Crete is now sent to Delos crowned with flowers [Plato] |
17205 | Only an external cause can destroy something [Spinoza] |
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] |
17175 | There cannot be two substances with the same attributes [Spinoza] |
17173 | Two substances can't be the same if they have different attributes [Spinoza] |
17183 | Things are impossible if they imply contradiction, or their production lacks an external cause [Spinoza] |
4299 | Contingency is an illusion, resulting from our inadequate understanding [Spinoza, by Cottingham] |
4824 | We only call things 'contingent' in relation to the imperfection of our knowledge [Spinoza] |
4839 | Reason naturally regards things as necessary, and only imagination considers them contingent [Spinoza] |
4822 | Divine nature makes all existence and operations necessary, and nothing is contingent [Spinoza] |
17182 | Necessity is in reference to essence or to cause [Spinoza] |
4818 | People who are ignorant of true causes imagine anything can change into anything else [Spinoza] |
20310 | Error does not result from imagining, but from lacking the evidence of impossibility [Spinoza] |
17208 | A horse would be destroyed if it were changed into a man or an insect [Spinoza] |
17209 | A thing is contingent if nothing in its essence determines whether or not it exists [Spinoza] |
5640 | Spinoza's three levels of knowledge are perception/imagination, then principles, then intuitions [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
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] |
2133 | Knowledge must be of the permanent unchanging nature of things [Plato] |
16126 | Expertise is knowledge of the whole by means of the parts [Plato] |
17211 | Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
21801 | Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief [Spinoza, by Schmid] |
389 | How can you be certain about aspects of the world if they aren't constant? [Plato] |
21863 | You only know you are certain of something when you actually are certain of it [Spinoza] |
17199 | A man who assents without doubt to a falsehood is not certain, but lacks a cause to make him waver [Spinoza] |
17193 | True ideas intrinsically involve the highest degree of certainty [Spinoza] |
5638 | 'I think' is useless, because it is contingent, and limited to the first person [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
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] |
9343 | To achieve pure knowledge, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things with the soul [Plato] |
2045 | Perception is infallible, suggesting that it is knowledge [Plato] |
2067 | Our senses could have been separate, but they converge on one mind [Plato] |
4831 | If the body is affected by an external object, the mind can't help believing that the object exists [Spinoza] |
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] |
4865 | The eyes of the mind are proofs [Spinoza] |
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] |
20306 | Once we have experienced two feelings together, one will always give rise to the other [Spinoza] |
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] |
4835 | Anyone who knows, must know that they know, and even know that they know that they know.. [Spinoza] |
2081 | Maybe primary elements can be named, but not receive a rational account [Plato] |
2088 | A rational account of a wagon would mean knowledge of its hundred parts [Plato] |
20308 | Encounters with things confuse the mind, and internal comparisons bring clarity [Spinoza] |
303 | Say how many teeth the other has, then count them. If you are right, we will trust your other claims [Plato] |
13792 | There can't be any knowledge if things are constantly changing [Plato] |
2047 | What evidence can be brought to show whether we are dreaming or not? [Plato] |
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] |
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] |
4312 | To understand a phenomenon, we must understand why it is necessary, not merely contingent [Spinoza, by Cottingham] |
15859 | To investigate the causes of things, study what is best for them [Plato] |
13073 | To understand the properties we must know the essence, as with a circle [Spinoza] |
4833 | The human mind is the very idea or knowledge of the human body [Spinoza] |
16198 | Knowledge is the essence of the mind [Spinoza] |
17198 | Will and intellect are the same thing [Spinoza] |
17201 | The will is finite, but the intellect is infinite [Spinoza] |
17196 | The will is not a desire, but the faculty of affirming what is true or false [Spinoza] |
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] |
2127 | The mind has parts, because we have inner conflicts [Plato] |
1737 | The soul seems to have an infinity of parts [Aristotle on Plato] |
21805 | Spinoza held that the mind is just a bundle of ideas [Spinoza, by Schmid] |
17204 | Animals are often observed to be wiser than people [Spinoza] |
13154 | Do we think and experience with blood, air or fire, or could it be our brain? [Plato] |
17212 | To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind [Spinoza] |
21804 | Faculties are either fictions, or the abstract universals of ideas [Spinoza] |
191 | Everything resembles everything else up to a point [Plato] |
4832 | If the body is affected by two things together, the imagining of one will conjure up the other [Spinoza] |
21869 | Our own force of persevering is nothing in comparison with external forces [Spinoza] |
20307 | As far as possible, everything tries to persevere [Spinoza] |
21803 | The conatus (striving) of mind and body together is appetite, which is the essence of man [Spinoza] |
276 | My individuality is my soul, which carries my body around [Plato] |
4836 | The mind only knows itself by means of ideas of the modification of the body [Spinoza] |
21861 | Self-knowledge needs perception of the affections of the body [Spinoza] |
364 | One soul can't be more or less of a soul than another [Plato] |
17216 | The poet who forgot his own tragedies was no longer the same man [Spinoza] |
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] |
4814 | A thing is free if it acts by necessity of its own nature, and the act is determined by itself alone [Spinoza] |
19922 | People are only free if they are guided entirely by reason [Spinoza] |
4871 | A thing is free if it acts only by the necessity of its own nature [Spinoza] |
21802 | An act of will can only occur if it has been caused, which implies a regress of causes [Spinoza] |
4837 | 'Free will' is a misunderstanding arising from awareness of our actions, but ignorance of their causes [Spinoza] |
4843 | Would we die if we lacked free will, and were poised between equal foods? Yes! [Spinoza] |
4844 | The mind is not free to remember or forget anything [Spinoza] |
330 | No one wants to be bad, but bad men result from physical and educational failures, which they do not want or choose [Plato] |
4311 | We think we are free because we don't know the causes of our desires and choices [Spinoza] |
7828 | The actual world is the only one God could have created [Spinoza] |
21860 | Ideas and things have identical connections and order [Spinoza] |
4308 | Mind and body are one thing, seen sometimes as thought and sometimes as extension [Spinoza] |
4846 | We are incapable of formulating an idea which excludes the existence of our body [Spinoza] |
4834 | Mind and body are the same thing, sometimes seen as thought, and sometimes as extension [Spinoza] |
23951 | Emotion is a modification of bodily energy, controlling our actions [Spinoza] |
4849 | The three primary emotions are pleasure, pain and desire [Spinoza] |
23990 | The three primary emotions are pleasure, pain, and desire [Spinoza, by Goldie] |
17203 | Minds are subject to passions if they have inadequate ideas [Spinoza] |
4864 | An emotion is only bad if it hinders us from thinking [Spinoza] |
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] |
7832 | Stoics want to suppress emotions, but Spinoza overcomes them with higher emotions [Spinoza, by Stewart,M] |
4863 | An emotion comes more under our control in proportion to how well it is known to us [Spinoza] |
4841 | People make calculation mistakes by misjudging the figures, not calculating them wrongly [Spinoza] |
21807 | Ideas are powerful entities, which can produce further ideas [Spinoza, by Schmid] |
4830 | An 'idea' is a mental conception which is actively formed by the mind in thinking [Spinoza] |
4842 | Ideas are not images formed in the brain, but are the conceptions of thought [Spinoza] |
20311 | An idea involves affirmation or negation [Spinoza] |
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] |
4838 | Claiming that actions depend on the will is meaningless; no one knows what the will is [Spinoza] |
4309 | Spinoza argues that in reality the will and the intellect are 'one and the same' [Spinoza, by Cottingham] |
20305 | Whenever we act, then desire is our very essence [Spinoza] |
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] |
21868 | We love or hate people more strongly because we think they are free [Spinoza] |
17202 | We are the source of an action if only our nature can explain the action [Spinoza] |
21865 | We act when it follows from our nature, and is understood in that way [Spinoza] |
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] |
4870 | The most beautiful hand seen through the microscope will appear horrible [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
4867 | Whether nature is beautiful or orderly is entirely in relation to human imagination [Spinoza] |
1869 | The good cannot be expressed in words, but imprints itself upon the soul [Plato, by Celsus] |
21873 | Men only agree in nature if they are guided by reason [Spinoza] |
21872 | We seek our own advantage, and virtue is doing this rationally [Spinoza] |
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] |
17189 | The essence of man is modifications of the nature of God [Spinoza] |
17207 | By 'good' I mean what brings us ever closer to our model of human nature [Spinoza] |
8019 | Along with his pantheism, Spinoza equates ethics with the study of human nature [Spinoza, by MacIntyre] |
17229 | If infancy in humans was very rare, we would consider it a pitiful natural defect [Spinoza] |
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] |
4845 | We don't want things because they are good; we judge things to be good because we want them [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
4848 | Love is nothing else but pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause [Spinoza] |
176 | Love follows beauty, wisdom is exceptionally beautiful, so love follows wisdom [Plato] |
17217 | Love is joy with an external cause [Spinoza] |
139 | A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato] |
7833 | Spinoza names self-interest as the sole source of value [Spinoza, by Stewart,M] |
12 | If we were invisible, would the just man become like the unjust? [Plato] |
128 | Is it natural to simply indulge our selfish desires? [Plato] |
2168 | Clever criminals do well at first, but not in the long run [Plato] |
202 | No one willingly and knowingly embraces evil [Plato] |
17224 | If our ideas were wholly adequate, we would have no concept of evil [Spinoza] |
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] |
295 | The good is beautiful [Plato] |
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] |
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] |
21870 | Music is good for a melancholic, bad for a mourner, and indifferent to the deaf [Spinoza] |
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] |
4860 | Man's highest happiness consists of perfecting his understanding, or reason [Spinoza] |
385 | Some of the pleasures and pains we feel are false [Plato] |
4847 | Pleasure is a passive state in which the mind increases in perfection [Spinoza] |
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] |
371 | Reason, memory, truth and wisdom are far better than pleasure, for those who can attain them [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] |
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] |
379 | The good must be sufficient and perfect, and neither intellect nor pleasure are that [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] |
2123 | Excessive pleasure deranges people, making the other virtues impossible [Plato] |
264 | The conquest of pleasure is the noblest victory of all [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] |
4859 | Pleasure is only bad in so far as it hinders a man's capability for action [Spinoza] |
2166 | We should behave well even if invisible, for the health of the mind [Plato] |
4851 | Reason demands nothing contrary to nature, and so it demands self-love [Spinoza] |
17220 | Self-satisfaction is the highest thing for which we can hope [Spinoza] |
1636 | Wickedness is an illness of the soul [Plato] |
388 | Hedonists must say that someone in pain is bad, even if they are virtuous [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] |
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] |
4852 | Both virtue and happiness are based on the preservation of one's own being [Spinoza] |
5 | Justice is merely the interests of the stronger party [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] |
17214 | To act virtuously is to act rationally [Spinoza] |
21871 | The more we strive for our own advantage, the more virtuous we are [Spinoza] |
17210 | All virtue is founded on self-preservation [Spinoza] |
4856 | To live according to reason is to live according to the laws of human nature [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
1916 | Even if virtues are many and various, they must have something in common to make them virtues [Plato] |
17221 | A man ignorant of himself is ignorant of all of the virtues [Spinoza] |
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] |
2126 | A good community necessarily has wisdom, courage, self-discipline and morality [Plato] |
20239 | Unlike us, the early Greeks thought envy was a good thing, and hope a bad thing [Hesiod, by Nietzsche] |
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] |
17225 | In a free man, choosing flight can show as much strength of mind as fighting [Spinoza] |
293 | Being unafraid (perhaps through ignorance) and being brave are two different things [Plato] |
17219 | A person unmoved by either reason or pity to help others is rightly called 'inhuman' [Spinoza] |
4857 | Pity is a bad and useless thing, as it is a pain, and rational people perform good deeds without it [Spinoza] |
17223 | Pity is not a virtue, but at least it shows a desire to live uprightly [Spinoza] |
17218 | People who live according to reason should avoid pity [Spinoza] |
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] |
17228 | Rational people judge money by needs, and live contented with very little [Spinoza] |
294 | People say that friendship exists only between good men [Plato] |
156 | Bad people are never really friends with one another [Plato] |
4853 | Rational people are self-interested, but also desire the same goods for other people [Spinoza] |
4858 | A rational person will want others to have the goods he seeks for himself [Spinoza] |
2912 | Plato is boring [Nietzsche on Plato] |
4855 | If people are obedient to reason, they will live in harmony [Spinoza] |
19889 | People need society because the individual has too many needs [Plato] |
19935 | Peoples are created by individuals, not by nature, and only distinguished by language and law [Spinoza] |
21874 | The ideal for human preservation is unanimity among people [Spinoza] |
8020 | Only self-knowledge can liberate us [Spinoza, by MacIntyre] |
19914 | In nature everything has an absolute right to do anything it is capable of doing [Spinoza] |
19915 | Natural rights are determined by desire and power, not by reason [Spinoza] |
7412 | Spinoza extended Hobbes's natural rights to cover all possible desires and actions [Spinoza, by Tuck] |
7487 | Society exists to extend human awareness [Spinoza, by Watson] |
137 | As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato] |
19890 | All exchanges in a community are for mutual benefit [Plato] |
19943 | The state aims to allow personal development, so its main purpose is freedom [Spinoza] |
19930 | Sovereignty must include the power to make people submit to it [Spinoza] |
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] |
19936 | Kings tend to fight wars for glory, rather than for peace and liberty [Spinoza] |
19937 | Monarchs are always proud, and can't back down [Spinoza] |
19940 | Deposing a monarch is dangerous, because the people are used to royal authority [Spinoza] |
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] |
19931 | Every state is more frightened of its own citizens than of external enemies [Spinoza] |
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] |
19920 | Democracy is a legitimate gathering of people who do whatever they can do [Spinoza] |
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] |
19933 | If religion is law, then piety is justice, impiety is crime, and non-believers must leave [Spinoza] |
19938 | Allowing religious ministers any control of the state is bad for both parties [Spinoza] |
17227 | Slavery is a disgraceful crime [Spinoza] |
19923 | Slavery is not just obedience, but acting only in the interests of the master [Spinoza] |
19939 | Government is oppressive if opinions can be crimes, because people can't give them up [Spinoza] |
19944 | Without liberty of thought there is no trust in the state, and corruption follows [Spinoza] |
19942 | Treason may be committed as much by words as by deeds [Spinoza] |
19924 | The freest state is a rational one, where people can submit themselves to reason [Spinoza] |
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] |
262 | Men and women should qualify equally for honours on merit [Plato] |
124 | Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits? [Plato] |
7827 | Spinoza wanted democracy based on individual rights, and is thus the first modern political philosopher [Stewart,M on Spinoza] |
19926 | The sovereignty has absolute power over citizens [Spinoza] |
236 | Sound laws achieve the happiness of those who observe them [Plato] |
19918 | Forming a society meant following reason, and giving up dangerous appetites and mutual harm [Spinoza] |
19919 | People only give up their rights, and keep promises, if they hope for some greater good [Spinoza] |
19921 | Once you have given up your rights, there is no going back [Spinoza] |
19925 | In democracy we don't abandon our rights, but transfer them to the majority of us [Spinoza] |
19928 | No one, in giving up their power and right, ceases to be a human being [Spinoza] |
19929 | Everyone who gives up their rights must fear the recipients of them [Spinoza] |
19932 | The early Hebrews, following Moses, gave up their rights to God alone [Spinoza] |
259 | Justice is granting the equality which unequals deserve [Plato] |
19916 | The order of nature does not prohibit anything, and allows whatever appetite produces [Spinoza] |
19927 | State and religious law can clash, so the state must make decisions about religion [Spinoza] |
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] |
4331 | Education is channelling a child's feelings into the right course before it understands why [Plato] |
17226 | The best use of talent is to teach other people to live rationally [Spinoza] |
222 | Only a great person can understand the essence of things, and an even greater person can teach it [Plato] |
2153 | Compulsory intellectual work never remains in the mind [Plato] |
1638 | Didactic education is hard work and achieves little [Plato] |
4854 | It is impossible that the necessity of a person's nature should produce a desire for non-existence [Spinoza] |
298 | While sex is very pleasant, it should be in secret, as it looks contemptible [Plato] |
17215 | Animals feel, but that doesn't mean we can't use them for our pleasure and profit [Spinoza] |
17190 | We can easily think of nature as one individual [Spinoza] |
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] |
4826 | Nature has no particular goal in view, and final causes are mere human figments [Spinoza] |
1587 | Spinoza strongly attacked teleology, which is the lifeblood of classical logos [Roochnik on Spinoza] |
1588 | For Spinoza eyes don't act for purposes, but follow mechanical necessity [Roochnik on Spinoza] |
12731 | Final causes are figments of human imagination [Spinoza] |
4821 | An infinite line can be marked in feet or inches, so one infinity is twelve times the other [Spinoza] |
17177 | In nature there is just one infinite substance [Spinoza] |
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] |
325 | We must consider the four basic shapes as too small to see, only becoming visible in large numbers [Plato] |
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] |
4850 | A final cause is simply a human desire [Spinoza] |
4815 | From a definite cause an effect necessarily follows [Spinoza] |
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] |
7835 | The key question for Spinoza is: is his God really a God? [Stewart,M on Spinoza] |
4823 | God does not act according to the freedom of the will [Spinoza] |
279 | Only divine things can always stay the same, and bodies are not like that [Plato] |
12928 | Spinoza's God is just power and necessity, without perfection or wisdom [Leibniz on Spinoza] |
7571 | Spinoza's God is not a person [Spinoza, by Jolley] |
4314 | God is wholly without passions, and strictly speaking does not love anyone [Spinoza, by Cottingham] |
7609 | God is the sum and principle of all eternal laws [Spinoza, by Armstrong,K] |
19435 | God is not loveable for producing without choice and by necessity; God is loveable for his goodness [Leibniz on Spinoza] |
21859 | God has no purpose, because God lacks nothing [Spinoza] |
13783 | Even the gods love play [Plato] |
17172 | God is a substance with infinite attributes [Spinoza] |
17231 | God feels no emotions, of joy or sorrow [Spinoza] |
175 | Gods are not lovers of wisdom, because they are already wise [Plato] |
4866 | God is a being with infinite attributes, each of them infinite or perfect [Spinoza] |
7829 | God no more has human perfections than we have animal perfections [Spinoza] |
152 | The mind of God is fully satisfied and happy with a vision of reality and truth [Plato] |
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] |
4825 | To say that God promotes what is good is false, as it sets up a goal beyond God [Spinoza] |
8004 | In 'The Laws', to obey the law is to be obey god [Plato, by MacIntyre] |
234 | We couldn't discuss the non-existence of the One without knowledge of it [Plato] |
21856 | Spinoza says a substance of infinite attributes cannot fail to exist [Spinoza, by Lord] |
17178 | Denial of God is denial that his essence involves existence, which is absurd [Spinoza] |
21858 | God is being as such, and you cannot conceive of the non-existence of being [Spinoza, by Lord] |
4820 | God must necessarily exist, because no reason can be given for his non-existence [Spinoza] |
17169 | Some things makes me conceive of it as a thing whose essence requires its existence [Spinoza] |
4817 | If a thing can be conceived as non-existing, its essence does not involve existence [Spinoza] |
21258 | The only possible beginning for the endless motions of reality is something self-generated [Plato] |
21261 | Self-moving soul has to be the oldest thing there is [Plato] |
21257 | Self-generating motion is clearly superior to all other kinds of motion [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] |
4868 | Trying to prove God's existence through miracles is proving the obscure by the more obscure [Spinoza] |
4827 | Priests reject as heretics anyone who tries to understand miracles in a natural way [Spinoza] |
12757 | That God is the substance of all things is an ill-reputed doctrine [Leibniz on Spinoza] |
4829 | The human mind is part of the infinite intellect of God [Spinoza] |
17181 | God is the efficient cause of essences, as well as of existences [Spinoza] |
17180 | Everything is in God, and nothing exists or is thinkable without God [Spinoza] |
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] |
7830 | A talking triangle would say God is triangular [Spinoza] |
7836 | In Spinoza, one could substitute 'nature' or 'substance' for the word 'God' throughout [Spinoza, by Stewart,M] |
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] |
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] |
19934 | Hebrews were very hostile to other states, who had not given up their rights to God [Spinoza] |
4300 | The Bible has nothing in common with reasoning and philosophy [Spinoza] |
146 | Soul is always in motion, so it must be self-moving and immortal [Plato] |
7831 | Spinoza's theory of mind implies that there is no immortality [Spinoza, by Stewart,M] |
21876 | After death, something eternal remains of the mind [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
2120 | God is responsible for the good things, but we must look elsewhere for the cause of the bad things [Plato] |