Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for Hesiod, Baruch de Spinoza and Plato

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684 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
Spiritual qualities only become advantageous with the growth of wisdom [Plato]
The finest branch of wisdom is justice and moderation in ordering states and families [Plato]
Wisdom makes virtue and true goodness possible [Plato]
Wisdom is called 'beautiful', because it performs fine works [Plato]
For Plato true wisdom is supernatural [Plato, by Weil]
The wisdom of a free man is a meditation on life, not on death [Spinoza]
If we are not wholly wise, we should live by good rules and maxims [Spinoza]
1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People
Good people are no different from wise ones [Plato]
Philosophers become as divine and orderly as possible, by studying divinity and order [Plato]
1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 3. Wisdom Deflated
Don't assume that wisdom is the automatic consequence of old age [Plato]
1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 2. Ancient Philosophy / b. Pre-Socratic philosophy
Plato never mentions Democritus, and wished to burn his books [Plato, by Diog. Laertius]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
Can we understand an individual soul without knowing the soul in general? [Plato]
For relaxation one can consider the world of change, instead of eternal things [Plato]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 2. Invocation to Philosophy
The highest ability in man is the ability to discuss unity and plurality in the nature of things [Plato]
We must fight fiercely for knowledge, understanding and intelligence [Plato]
Philosophy is the supreme gift of the gods to mortals [Plato]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / b. Philosophy as transcendent
Philosophy is a purification of the soul ready for the afterlife [Plato]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / e. Philosophy as reason
The winds of the discussion should decide its destination [Plato]
We shouldn't always follow where the argument leads! [Lewis on Plato]
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
Is a gifted philosopher unmanly if he avoids the strife of the communal world? [Plato]
Philosophers are always switching direction to something more interesting [Plato]
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 2. Analysis by Division
Either a syllable is its letters (making parts as knowable as whole) or it isn't (meaning it has no parts) [Plato]
Understanding mainly involves knowing the elements, not their combinations [Plato]
A speaker should be able to divide a subject, right down to the limits of divisibility [Plato]
Whenever you perceive a community of things, you should also hunt out differences in the group [Plato]
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 4. Conceptual Analysis
It would be absurd to be precise about the small things, but only vague about the big things [Plato]
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 5. Linguistic Analysis
We must be careful to keep words distinct from ideas and images [Spinoza]
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 7. Limitations of Analysis
The desire to split everything into its parts is unpleasant and unphilosophical [Plato]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 1. On Reason
When questions are doubtful we should concentrate not on objects but on ideas of the intellect [Plato]
It is foolish to quarrel with the mind's own reasoning processes [Plato]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 3. Pure Reason
In investigation the body leads us astray, but the soul gets a clear view of the facts [Plato]
Reason only explains what is universal, so it is timeless, under a certain form of eternity [Spinoza]
Reason perceives things under a certain form of eternity [Spinoza]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 4. Aims of Reason
We ought to follow where the argument leads us [Plato]
In so far as men live according to reason, they will agree with one another [Spinoza]
Without reason and human help, human life is misery [Spinoza]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 6. Coherence
A rational account is essentially a weaving together of things with names [Plato]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 7. Status of Reason
The greatest misfortune for a person is to develop a dislike for argument [Plato]
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 9. Limits of Reason
Mortals are incapable of being fully rational [Plato]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 2. Sufficient Reason
Nothing can come to be without a cause [Plato]
There is necessarily for each existent thing a cause why it should exist [Spinoza]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 4. Contraries
Only one thing can be contrary to something [Plato]
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 5. Opposites
Opposites are as unlike as possible [Plato]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic
A dialectician is someone who knows how to ask and to answer questions [Plato]
Two contradictories force us to find a relation which will correlate them [Plato, by Weil]
Dialectic is the only method of inquiry which uproots the things which it takes for granted [Plato]
The ability to take an overview is the distinguishing mark of a dialectician [Plato]
For Plato, rationality is a vision of and love of a cosmic rational order [Plato, by Taylor,C]
Good analysis involves dividing things into appropriate forms without confusion [Plato]
Plato's 'Parmenides' is the greatest artistic achievement of the ancient dialectic [Hegel on Plato]
Dialectic should only be taught to those who already philosophise well [Plato]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 2. Elenchus
In "Gorgias" Socrates is confident that his 'elenchus' will decide moral truth [Vlastos on Plato]
We should test one another, by asking and answering questions [Plato]
You must never go against what you actually believe [Plato]
In discussion a person's opinions are shown to be in conflict, leading to calm self-criticism [Plato]
2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 3. Eristic
People often merely practice eristic instead of dialectic, because they don't analyse the subject-matter [Plato]
Eristic discussion is aggressive, but dialectic aims to help one's companions in discussion [Plato]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 2. Aims of Definition
To reveal a nature, divide down, and strip away what it has in common with other things [Plato]
No one wants to define 'weaving' just for the sake of weaving [Plato]
All the intrinsic properties of a thing should be deducible from its definition [Spinoza]
2. Reason / D. Definition / 4. Real Definition
A primary element has only a name, and no logos, but complexes have an account, by weaving the names [Plato]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 1. Truth
Truth is its own standard [Spinoza]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 3. Value of Truth
Truth has the supreme value, for both gods and men [Plato]
Spinoza's life shows that love of truth which he proclaims as the highest value [MacIntyre on Spinoza]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 8. Subjective Truth
For Spinoza, 'adequacy' is the intrinsic mark of truth [Spinoza, by Scruton]
3. Truth / C. Correspondence Truth / 1. Correspondence Truth
Truths say of what is that it is, falsehoods say of what is that it is not [Plato]
A true idea must correspond with its ideate or object [Spinoza]
4. Formal Logic / B. Propositional Logic PL / 2. Tools of Propositional Logic / e. Axioms of PL
In mathematics certain things have to be accepted without further explanation [Plato]
4. Formal Logic / G. Formal Mereology / 1. Mereology
It seems absurd that seeing a person's limbs, the one is many, and yet the many are one [Plato]
5. Theory of Logic / B. Logical Consequence / 5. Modus Ponens
If our ideas are adequate, what follows from them is also adequate [Spinoza]
5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / a. Names
A name is a sort of tool [Plato]
A name-giver might misname something, then force other names to conform to it [Plato]
Things must be known before they are named, so it can't be the names that give us knowledge [Plato]
5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / c. Names as referential
Anyone who knows a thing's name also knows the thing [Plato]
5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 2. Aporiai
How can you seek knowledge of something if you don't know it? [Plato]
5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 3. Antinomies
Plato found antinomies in ideas, Kant in space and time, and Bradley in relations [Plato, by Ryle]
Plato's 'Parmenides' is perhaps the best collection of antinomies ever made [Russell on Plato]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 1. Mathematics
Mathematics deals with the essences and properties of forms [Spinoza]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry
Geometry can lead the mind upwards to truth and philosophy [Plato]
It is absurd to define a circle, but not be able to recognise a real one [Plato]
The sum of its angles follows from a triangle's nature [Spinoza]
The idea of a triangle involves truths about it, so those are part of its essence [Spinoza]
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / f. Arithmetic
If you add one to one, which one becomes two, or do they both become two? [Plato]
Daily arithmetic counts unequal things, but pure arithmetic equalises them [Plato]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 1. Mathematical Platonism / a. For mathematical platonism
We aim for elevated discussion of pure numbers, not attaching them to physical objects [Plato]
In pure numbers, all ones are equal, with no internal parts [Plato]
Geometry is not an activity, but the study of unchanging knowledge [Plato]
We master arithmetic by knowing all the numbers in our soul [Plato]
One is, so numbers exist, so endless numbers exist, and each one must partake of being [Plato]
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 4. Mathematical Empiricism / c. Against mathematical empiricism
The same thing is both one and an unlimited number at the same time [Plato]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 2. Types of Existence
Outside the mind, there are just things and their properties [Spinoza]
The more reality a thing has, the more attributes it has [Spinoza]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / c. Becoming
The one was and is and will be and was becoming and is becoming and will become [Plato]
Before the existence of the world there must have been being, space and becoming [Plato]
The apprehensions of reason remain unchanging, but reasonless sensation shows mere becoming [Plato]
To become rational, philosophers must rise from becoming into being [Plato]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / d. Non-being
What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / e. Being and nothing
If statements about non-existence are logically puzzling, so are statements about existence [Plato]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / f. Primary being
Being depends on the Good, which is not itself being, but superior to being [Plato]
Plato's Parmenides has a three-part theory, of Primal One, a One-Many, and a One-and-Many [Plato, by Plotinus]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 5. Reason for Existence
There must always be a reason or cause why some triangle does or does not exist [Spinoza]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence
To be is to have a capacity, to act on other things, or to receive actions [Plato]
7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 1. Nature of Change
The best things (gods, healthy bodies, good souls) are least liable to change [Plato]
There seem to be two sorts of change: alteration and motion [Plato]
How can beauty have identity if it changes? [Plato]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 1. Grounding / a. Nature of grounding
Men say they prefer order, not realising that we imagine the order [Spinoza]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 8. Stuff / b. Mixtures
If a mixture does not contain measure and proportion, it is corrupted and destroyed [Plato]
Any mixture which lacks measure and proportion doesn't even count as a mixture at all [Plato]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 2. Realism
Reasoning needs to cut nature accurately at the joints [Plato]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 3. Reality
Absolute ideas, such as the Good and the Beautiful, cannot be known by us [Plato]
Plato's reality has unchanging Parmenidean forms, and Heraclitean flux [Plato, by Fogelin]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 5. Naturalism
Laws of nature are universal, so everything must be understood through those laws [Spinoza]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 6. Physicalism
Some alarming thinkers think that only things which you can touch exist [Plato]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / a. Ontological commitment
Whenever there's speech it has to be about something [Plato]
7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation
We only succeed in cutting if we use appropriate tools, not if we approach it randomly [Plato]
I revere anyone who can discern a single thing that encompasses many things [Plato]
8. Modes of Existence / A. Relations / 2. Internal Relations
If Simmias is taller than Socrates, that isn't a feature that is just in Simmias [Plato]
8. Modes of Existence / A. Relations / 3. Structural Relations
Plato's idea of 'structure' tends to be mathematically expressed [Plato, by Koslicki]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 3. Types of Properties
An 'attribute' is what the intellect takes as constituting an essence [Spinoza]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 8. Properties as Modes
A 'mode' is an aspect of a substance, and conceived through that substance [Spinoza]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 2. Powers as Basic
Things persevere through a force which derives from God [Spinoza]
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 4. Powers as Essence
The essence of a thing is its effort to persevere [Spinoza]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 2. Need for Universals
If you deny that each thing always stays the same, you destroy the possibility of discussion [Plato]
The plurality of beautiful things must belong to a single class, because they have a single particular character [Plato]
It takes a person to understand, by using universals, and by using reason to create a unity out of sense-impressions [Plato]
You must always mean the same thing when you utter the same name [Plato]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / a. Platonic Forms
Diotima said the Forms are the objects of desire in philosophical discourse [Plato, by Roochnik]
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]
Craftsmen making furniture refer to the form, but no one manufactures the form of furniture [Plato]
It would be absurd to think there were abstract Forms for vile things like hair, mud and dirt [Plato]
The concept of a master includes the concept of a slave [Plato]
We must have a prior knowledge of equality, if we see 'equal' things and realise they fall short of it [Plato]
Plato's Forms meant that the sophists only taught the appearance of wisdom and virtue [Plato, by Nehamas]
Good thinkers spot forms spread through things, or included within some larger form [Plato]
The not-beautiful is part of the beautiful, though opposed to it, and is just as real [Plato]
Plato's Forms were seen as part of physics, rather than of metaphysics [Plato, by Annas]
Something will always be well-made if the maker keeps in mind the eternal underlying pattern [Plato]
In addition to the underlying unchanging model and a changing copy of it, there must also be a foundation of all change [Plato]
For knowledge and true opinion to be different there must be Forms; otherwise we are just stuck with sensations [Plato]
Plato's Forms are said to have no location in space [Plato, by Aristotle]
We would have an overpowering love of knowledge if we had a pure idea of it - as with the other Forms [Plato]
If admirable things have Forms, maybe everything else does as well [Plato]
If absolute ideas existed in us, they would cease to be absolute [Plato]
Greatness and smallness must exist, to be opposed to one another, and come into being in things [Plato]
Platonists argue for the indivisible triangle-in-itself [Plato, by Aristotle]
Forms are not universals, as they don't cover every general term [Plato, by Annas]
Plato moves from Forms to a theory of genera and principles in his later work [Plato, by Frede,M]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / b. Partaking
The universe is basically an intelligible and unchanging model, and a visible and changing copy of it [Plato]
If the good is one, is it unchanged when it is in particulars, and is it then separated from itself? [Plato]
There is only one source for all beauty [Plato]
Other things are named after the Forms because they participate in them [Plato]
Beautiful things must be different from beauty itself, but beauty itself must be present in each of them [Plato]
If there is one Form for both the Form and its participants, they must have something in common [Aristotle on Plato]
If things partake of ideas, this implies either that everything thinks, or that everything actually is thought [Plato]
The whole idea of each Form must be found in each thing which participates in it [Plato]
Participation is not by means of similarity, so we are looking for some other method of participation [Plato]
A Form applies to a set of particular things with the same name [Plato]
Each idea is in all its participants at once, just as daytime is a unity but in many separate places at once [Plato]
If things are made alike by participating in something, that thing will be the absolute idea [Plato]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / c. Self-predication
Nothing can be like an absolute idea, because a third idea intervenes to make them alike (leading to a regress) [Plato]
If asked whether justice itself is just or unjust, you would have to say that it is just [Plato]
If gods are like men, they are just eternal men; similarly, Forms must differ from particulars [Aristotle on Plato]
If absolute greatness and great things are seen as the same, another thing appears which makes them seem great [Plato]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 6. Platonic Forms / d. Forms critiques
Plato mistakenly thought forms were totally abstracted away from matter [Bacon on Plato]
Plato's Forms not only do not come from the senses, but they are beyond possibility of sensing [Plato, by Kant]
The 'universal' term 'man' is just imagining whatever is the same in a multitude of men [Spinoza]
The Forms cannot be changeless if they are in changing things [Aristotle on Plato]
A Form is a cause of things only in the way that white mixed with white is a cause [Aristotle on Plato]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 2. Abstract Objects / a. Nature of abstracta
The greatest discovery in human thought is Plato's discovery of abstract objects [Brown,JR on Plato]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / a. Individuation
We can grasp whole things in science, because they have a mathematics and a teleology [Plato, by Koslicki]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / d. Individuation by haecceity
Doesn't each thing have an essence, just as it has other qualities? [Plato]
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 6. Nihilism about Objects
If we see everything as separate, we can then give no account of it [Plato]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / a. Intrinsic unification
Plato sees an object's structure as expressible in mathematics [Plato, by Koslicki]
Plato was less concerned than Aristotle with the source of unity in a complex object [Plato, by Koslicki]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / b. Unifying aggregates
Parts must belong to a created thing with a distinct form [Plato]
A thing is unified if its parts produce a single effect [Spinoza]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / c. Unity as conceptual
A thing can become one or many, depending on how we talk about it [Plato]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / b. Need for substance
Spinoza implies that thought is impossible without the notion of substance [Spinoza, by Scruton]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / c. Types of substance
Plato's holds that there are three substances: Forms, mathematical entities, and perceptible bodies [Plato, by Aristotle]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / d. Substance defined
Substance is the power of self-actualisation [Spinoza, by Lord]
Substance is that of which an independent conception can be formed [Spinoza]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 5. Composition of an Object
In Parmenides, if composition is identity, a whole is nothing more than its parts [Plato, by Harte,V]
If one object is divided into its parts, someone can then say that one are many and many is one [Plato]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / a. Parts of objects
Plato says only a one has parts, and a many does not [Plato, by Harte,V]
Anything which has parts must be one thing, and parts are of a one, not of a many [Plato]
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]
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / c. Wholes from parts
A sum is that from which nothing is lacking, which is a whole [Plato]
The whole can't be the parts, because it would be all of the parts, which is the whole [Plato]
Plato says wholes are either containers, or they're atomic, or they don't exist [Plato, by Koslicki]
It seems that the One must be composed of parts, which contradicts its being one [Plato]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 1. Essences of Objects
The essence of a thing is what is required for it to exist or be conceived [Spinoza]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 2. Types of Essence
Only universals have essence [Plato, by Politis]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 3. Individual Essences
Things don't have every attribute, and essence isn't private, so each thing has an essence [Plato]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 4. Essence as Definition
To grasp a thing we need its name, its definition, and what it really is [Plato]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 6. Essence as Unifier
Plato and Aristotle take essence to make a thing what it is [Plato, by Politis]
Essence gives existence and conception to things, and is inseparable from them [Spinoza]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / b. Essence not necessities
Nothing is essential if it is in every part, and is common to everything [Spinoza]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 8. Essence as Explanatory
All natures of things produce some effect [Spinoza]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 14. Knowledge of Essences
Experience does not teach us any essences of things [Spinoza]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism
Is the being or essence of each thing private to each person? [Plato]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 9. Ship of Theseus
The ship which Theseus took to Crete is now sent to Delos crowned with flowers [Plato]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 11. End of an Object
Only an external cause can destroy something [Spinoza]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 6. Identity between Objects
Two things relate either as same or different, or part of a whole, or the whole of the part [Plato]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 7. Indiscernible Objects
If we made a perfect duplicate of Cratylus, there would be two Cratyluses [Plato]
There cannot be two substances with the same attributes [Spinoza]
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 8. Leibniz's Law
Two substances can't be the same if they have different attributes [Spinoza]
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 10. Impossibility
Things are impossible if they imply contradiction, or their production lacks an external cause [Spinoza]
10. Modality / B. Possibility / 5. Contingency
Contingency is an illusion, resulting from our inadequate understanding [Spinoza, by Cottingham]
We only call things 'contingent' in relation to the imperfection of our knowledge [Spinoza]
Reason naturally regards things as necessary, and only imagination considers them contingent [Spinoza]
10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 1. Sources of Necessity
Divine nature makes all existence and operations necessary, and nothing is contingent [Spinoza]
10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 6. Necessity from Essence
Necessity is in reference to essence or to cause [Spinoza]
10. Modality / D. Knowledge of Modality / 4. Conceivable as Possible / a. Conceivable as possible
People who are ignorant of true causes imagine anything can change into anything else [Spinoza]
Error does not result from imagining, but from lacking the evidence of impossibility [Spinoza]
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 3. Transworld Objects / a. Transworld identity
A horse would be destroyed if it were changed into a man or an insect [Spinoza]
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 3. Transworld Objects / e. Possible Objects
A thing is contingent if nothing in its essence determines whether or not it exists [Spinoza]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 1. Knowledge
Spinoza's three levels of knowledge are perception/imagination, then principles, then intuitions [Spinoza, by Scruton]
Knowing how to achieve immortality is pointless without the knowledge how to use immortality [Plato]
Things are only knowable if a rational account (logos) is possible [Plato]
Knowledge must be of the permanent unchanging nature of things [Plato]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 2. Understanding
Expertise is knowledge of the whole by means of the parts [Plato]
Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind [Spinoza]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 3. Value of Knowledge
The only real evil is loss of knowledge [Plato]
True opinions only become really valuable when they are tied down by reasons [Plato]
The most important things in life are wisdom and knowledge [Plato]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / c. Aim of beliefs
It is impossible to believe something which is held to be false [Plato]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / d. Cause of beliefs
How can a belief exist if its object doesn't exist? [Plato]
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / e. Belief holism
Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief [Spinoza, by Schmid]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty
How can you be certain about aspects of the world if they aren't constant? [Plato]
You only know you are certain of something when you actually are certain of it [Spinoza]
A man who assents without doubt to a falsehood is not certain, but lacks a cause to make him waver [Spinoza]
True ideas intrinsically involve the highest degree of certainty [Spinoza]
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 5. Cogito Critique
'I think' is useless, because it is contingent, and limited to the first person [Spinoza, by Scruton]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 3. Innate Knowledge / b. Recollection doctrine
Seeking and learning are just recollection [Plato]
The slave boy learns geometry from questioning, not teaching, so it is recollection [Plato]
People are obviously recollecting when they react to a geometrical diagram [Plato]
If we feel the inadequacy of a resemblance, we must recollect the original [Plato]
The soul gets its goodness from god, and its evil from previous existence. [Plato]
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 6. A Priori from Reason
To achieve pure knowledge, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things with the soul [Plato]
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 1. Perception
Perception is infallible, suggesting that it is knowledge [Plato]
Our senses could have been separate, but they converge on one mind [Plato]
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 5. Interpretation
If the body is affected by an external object, the mind can't help believing that the object exists [Spinoza]
12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism
With what physical faculty do we perceive pairs of opposed abstract qualities? [Plato]
You might mistake eleven for twelve in your senses, but not in your mind [Plato]
A soul without understanding is ugly [Plato]
The eyes of the mind are proofs [Spinoza]
If theory and practice conflict, the best part of the mind accepts theory, so the other part is of lower grade [Plato]
Thought must grasp being itself before truth becomes possible [Plato]
True knowledge is of the reality behind sense experience [Plato]
Only bird-brained people think astronomy is entirely a matter of evidence [Plato]
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 2. Associationism
Once we have experienced two feelings together, one will always give rise to the other [Spinoza]
13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 1. Justification / b. Need for justification
True belief without knowledge is like blind people on the right road [Plato]
As a guide to action, true opinion is as good as knowledge [Plato]
An inadequate rational account would still not justify knowledge [Plato]
True opinion without reason is midway between wisdom and ignorance [Plato]
13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 2. Justification Challenges / a. Agrippa's trilemma
Parts and wholes are either equally knowable or equally unknowable [Plato]
Without distinguishing marks, how do I know what my beliefs are about? [Plato]
13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 3. Internal or External / a. Pro-internalism
A rational account might be seeing an image of one's belief, like a reflection in a mirror [Plato]
A rational account involves giving an image, or analysis, or giving a differentiating mark [Plato]
Anyone who knows, must know that they know, and even know that they know that they know.. [Spinoza]
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / a. Foundationalism
Maybe primary elements can be named, but not receive a rational account [Plato]
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 5. Coherentism / b. Pro-coherentism
A rational account of a wagon would mean knowledge of its hundred parts [Plato]
Encounters with things confuse the mind, and internal comparisons bring clarity [Spinoza]
13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 3. Reliabilism / a. Reliable knowledge
Say how many teeth the other has, then count them. If you are right, we will trust your other claims [Plato]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 1. Scepticism
There can't be any knowledge if things are constantly changing [Plato]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 5. Dream Scepticism
What evidence can be brought to show whether we are dreaming or not? [Plato]
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 6. Scepticism Critique
You don't need to learn what you know, and how do you seek for what you don't know? [Plato]
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 6. Relativism Critique
Do the gods also hold different opinions about what is right and honourable? [Plato]
Clearly some people are superior to others when it comes to medicine [Plato]
If you claim that all beliefs are true, that includes beliefs opposed to your own [Plato]
How can a relativist form opinions about what will happen in the future? [Plato]
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 5. Anomalies
If the apparent facts strongly conflict with probability, it is in everyone's interests to suppress the facts [Plato]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / b. Aims of explanation
A good explanation totally rules out the opposite explanation (so Forms are required) [Plato, by Ruben]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / f. Necessity in explanations
To understand a phenomenon, we must understand why it is necessary, not merely contingent [Spinoza, by Cottingham]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations
To investigate the causes of things, study what is best for them [Plato]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / k. Explanations by essence
To understand the properties we must know the essence, as with a circle [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / a. Mind
The human mind is the very idea or knowledge of the human body [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / b. Purpose of mind
Knowledge is the essence of the mind [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / c. Features of mind
Will and intellect are the same thing [Spinoza]
The will is finite, but the intellect is infinite [Spinoza]
The will is not a desire, but the faculty of affirming what is true or false [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / e. Questions about mind
Is the function of the mind management, authority and planning - or is it one's whole way of life? [Plato]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche
Soul causes the body to live, and gives it power to breathe and to be revitalized [Plato]
Psychic conflict is clear if appetite is close to the body and reason fairly separate [Plato, by Modrak]
There is a third element to the mind - spirit - lying between reason and appetite [Plato]
The soul is self-motion [Plato]
Plato says the soul is ordered by number [Plato, by Plutarch]
Soul is what is defined by 'self-generating motion' [Plato]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind
The mind has parts, because we have inner conflicts [Plato]
The soul seems to have an infinity of parts [Aristotle on Plato]
Spinoza held that the mind is just a bundle of ideas [Spinoza, by Schmid]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 7. Animal Minds
Animals are often observed to be wiser than people [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 8. Brain
Do we think and experience with blood, air or fire, or could it be our brain? [Plato]
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / d. Purpose of consciousness
To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 1. Faculties
Faculties are either fictions, or the abstract universals of ideas [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 7. Seeing Resemblance
Everything resembles everything else up to a point [Plato]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 8. Remembering Contiguity
If the body is affected by two things together, the imagining of one will conjure up the other [Spinoza]
15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 10. Conatus/Striving
Our own force of persevering is nothing in comparison with external forces [Spinoza]
As far as possible, everything tries to persevere [Spinoza]
The conatus (striving) of mind and body together is appetite, which is the essence of man [Spinoza]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 3. Self as Non-physical
My individuality is my soul, which carries my body around [Plato]
16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / a. Self needs body
The mind only knows itself by means of ideas of the modification of the body [Spinoza]
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
Self-knowledge needs perception of the affections of the body [Spinoza]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 1. Identity and the Self
One soul can't be more or less of a soul than another [Plato]
16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 2. Mental Continuity / a. Memory is Self
The poet who forgot his own tragedies was no longer the same man [Spinoza]
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 1. Self as Indeterminate
We call a person the same throughout life, but all their attributes change [Plato]
Only the gods stay unchanged; we replace our losses with similar acquisitions [Plato]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 1. Nature of Free Will
A thing is free if it acts by necessity of its own nature, and the act is determined by itself alone [Spinoza]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 2. Sources of Free Will
People are only free if they are guided entirely by reason [Spinoza]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
A thing is free if it acts only by the necessity of its own nature [Spinoza]
An act of will can only occur if it has been caused, which implies a regress of causes [Spinoza]
'Free will' is a misunderstanding arising from awareness of our actions, but ignorance of their causes [Spinoza]
Would we die if we lacked free will, and were poised between equal foods? Yes! [Spinoza]
The mind is not free to remember or forget anything [Spinoza]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 6. Determinism / a. Determinism
No one wants to be bad, but bad men result from physical and educational failures, which they do not want or choose [Plato]
We think we are free because we don't know the causes of our desires and choices [Spinoza]
The actual world is the only one God could have created [Spinoza]
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 5. Parallelism
Ideas and things have identical connections and order [Spinoza]
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 8. Dualism of Mind Critique
Mind and body are one thing, seen sometimes as thought and sometimes as extension [Spinoza]
We are incapable of formulating an idea which excludes the existence of our body [Spinoza]
17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 1. Physical Mind
Mind and body are the same thing, sometimes seen as thought, and sometimes as extension [Spinoza]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / a. Nature of emotions
Emotion is a modification of bodily energy, controlling our actions [Spinoza]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / e. Basic emotions
The three primary emotions are pleasure, pain and desire [Spinoza]
The three primary emotions are pleasure, pain, and desire [Spinoza, by Goldie]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / f. Emotion and reason
Minds are subject to passions if they have inadequate ideas [Spinoza]
An emotion is only bad if it hinders us from thinking [Spinoza]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / g. Controlling emotions
Plato saw emotions and appetites as wild horses, in need of taming [Plato, by Goldie]
Plato wanted to somehow control and purify the passions [Vlastos on Plato]
Stoics want to suppress emotions, but Spinoza overcomes them with higher emotions [Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
An emotion comes more under our control in proportion to how well it is known to us [Spinoza]
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 6. Judgement / b. Error
People make calculation mistakes by misjudging the figures, not calculating them wrongly [Spinoza]
18. Thought / C. Content / 2. Ideas
Ideas are powerful entities, which can produce further ideas [Spinoza, by Schmid]
An 'idea' is a mental conception which is actively formed by the mind in thinking [Spinoza]
Ideas are not images formed in the brain, but are the conceptions of thought [Spinoza]
An idea involves affirmation or negation [Spinoza]
19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric
Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends [Plato]
An excellent speech seems to imply a knowledge of the truth in the mind of the speaker [Plato]
The question of whether or not to persuade comes before the science of persuasion [Plato]
Only a good philosopher can be a good speaker [Plato]
The 'Republic' is a great work of rhetorical theory [Lawson-Tancred on Plato]
Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong [Plato]
Plato's whole philosophy may be based on being duped by reification - a figure of speech [Benardete,JA on Plato]
'Phaedrus' pioneers the notion of philosophical rhetoric [Lawson-Tancred on Plato]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 1. Intention to Act / b. Types of intention
All activity aims at the good [Plato]
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
For Plato and Aristotle there is no will; there is only rational desire for what is seen as good [Plato, by Frede,M]
Claiming that actions depend on the will is meaningless; no one knows what the will is [Spinoza]
Spinoza argues that in reality the will and the intellect are 'one and the same' [Spinoza, by Cottingham]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 1. Acting on Desires
Whenever we act, then desire is our very essence [Spinoza]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 2. Acting on Beliefs / a. Acting on beliefs
We avoid evil either through a natural aversion, or because we have acquired knowledge [Plato]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / b. Intellectualism
Courage is knowing what should or shouldn't be feared [Plato]
If goodness needs true opinion but not knowledge, you can skip the 'examined life' [Vlastos on Plato]
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 4. Responsibility for Actions
We love or hate people more strongly because we think they are free [Spinoza]
We are the source of an action if only our nature can explain the action [Spinoza]
We act when it follows from our nature, and is understood in that way [Spinoza]
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 4. Beauty
Beauty is harmony with what is divine, and ugliness is lack of such harmony [Plato]
If goodness involves moderation and proportion, then it seems to be found in beauty [Plato]
What is fine is always difficult [Plato]
Love of ugliness is impossible [Plato]
Beauty and goodness are the same [Plato]
Beauty is the clearest and most lovely of the Forms [Plato]
People who value beauty above virtue insult the soul by placing the body above it [Plato]
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 5. Natural Beauty
The most beautiful hand seen through the microscope will appear horrible [Spinoza]
Stage two is the realisation that beauty of soul is of more value than beauty of body [Plato]
Progress goes from physical beauty, to moral beauty, to the beauty of knowledge, and reaches absolute beauty [Plato]
Non-physical beauty can only be shown clearly by speech [Plato]
21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 8. The Arts / a. Music
Music is a knowledge of love in the realm of harmony and rhythm [Plato]
Music has harmony like the soul, and serves to reorder disharmony within us [Plato]
21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 8. The Arts / b. Literature
Without the surface decoration, poetry shows only appearances and nothing of what is real [Plato]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 3. Artistic Representation
Representation is two steps removed from the truth [Plato]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 6. Value of Art
Artists should be excluded from a law-abiding community, because they destroy the rational mind [Plato]
Truth is closely related to proportion [Plato]
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
What is fine is the parent of goodness [Plato]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / a. Preconditions for ethics
To understand morality requires a soul [Plato]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / b. Defining ethics
I suggest that we forget about trying to define goodness itself for the time being [Plato]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / d. Ethical theory
What knowledge is required to live well? [Plato]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / f. Ethical non-cognitivism
Whether nature is beautiful or orderly is entirely in relation to human imagination [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / a. Idealistic ethics
The good cannot be expressed in words, but imprints itself upon the soul [Plato, by Celsus]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / b. Rational ethics
Men only agree in nature if they are guided by reason [Spinoza]
We seek our own advantage, and virtue is doing this rationally [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism
Plato never refers to examining the conscience [Plato, by Foucault]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
The two ruling human principles are the natural desire for pleasure, and an acquired love of virtue [Plato]
The essence of man is modifications of the nature of God [Spinoza]
By 'good' I mean what brings us ever closer to our model of human nature [Spinoza]
Along with his pantheism, Spinoza equates ethics with the study of human nature [Spinoza, by MacIntyre]
If infancy in humans was very rare, we would consider it a pitiful natural defect [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / f. Übermensch
Plato found that he could only enforce rational moral justification by creating an authoritarian society [Williams,B on Plato]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / g. Will to power
Moral rules are made by the weak members of humanity [Plato]
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / j. Ethics by convention
As religion and convention collapsed, Plato sought morals not just in knowledge, but in the soul [Williams,B on Plato]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / b. Fact and value
Plato measured the degree of reality by the degree of value [Nietzsche on Plato]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / d. Subjective value
We don't want things because they are good; we judge things to be good because we want them [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / b. Successful function
A thing's function is what it alone can do, or what it does better than other things [Plato]
If something has a function then it has a state of being good [Plato]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / d. Health
Goodness is mental health, badness is mental sickness [Plato]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / f. Altruism
The just man does not harm his enemies, but benefits everyone [Plato]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / g. Love
Love assists men in achieving merit and happiness [Plato]
Love is desire for perpetual possession of the good [Plato]
Love is nothing else but pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause [Spinoza]
Love follows beauty, wisdom is exceptionally beautiful, so love follows wisdom [Plato]
Love is joy with an external cause [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / h. Fine deeds
A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / i. Self-interest
Spinoza names self-interest as the sole source of value [Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
If we were invisible, would the just man become like the unjust? [Plato]
Is it natural to simply indulge our selfish desires? [Plato]
Clever criminals do well at first, but not in the long run [Plato]
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / j. Evil
No one willingly and knowingly embraces evil [Plato]
If our ideas were wholly adequate, we would have no concept of evil [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / a. Form of the Good
The main aim is to understand goodness, which gives everything its value and advantage [Plato]
Every person, and every activity, aims at the good [Plato]
Neither intellect nor pleasure are the good, because they are not perfect and self-sufficient [Plato]
Good has the same role in the world of knowledge as the sun has in the physical world [Plato]
The sight of goodness leads to all that is fine and true and right [Plato]
For Plato we abandon honour and pleasure once we see the Good [Plato, by Taylor,C]
The good is beautiful [Plato]
The good involves beauty, proportion and truth [Plato]
Goodness makes truth and knowledge possible [Plato]
Bad is always destructive, where good preserves and benefits [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / b. Types of good
Good first, then beauty, then reason, then knowledge, then pleasure [Plato, by PG]
Plato's legacy to European thought was the Good, the Beautiful and the True [Plato, by Gray]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / d. Good as virtue
If a person is good they will automatically become happy [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / e. Good as knowledge
Only knowledge of some sort is good [Plato]
Pleasure is commonly thought to be the good, though the more ingenious prefer knowledge [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / f. Good as pleasure
In slaking our thirst the goodness of the action and the pleasure are clearly separate [Plato]
Pleasure is better with the addition of intelligence, so pleasure is not the good [Plato, by Aristotle]
Music is good for a melancholic, bad for a mourner, and indifferent to the deaf [Spinoza]
Good should be the aim of pleasant activity, not the other way round [Plato]
Even people who think pleasure is the good admit that there are bad pleasures [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / g. Consequentialism
An action is only just if it is performed by someone with a just character and outlook [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / h. Good as benefit
Some things are good even though they are not beneficial to men [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / i. Moral luck
Attempted murder is like real murder, but we should respect the luck which avoided total ruin [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / b. Eudaimonia
Happiness is secure enjoyment of what is good and beautiful [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness
Plato decided that the virtuous and happy life was the philosophical life [Plato, by Nehamas]
One should exercise both the mind and the body, to avoid imbalance [Plato]
Man's highest happiness consists of perfecting his understanding, or reason [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / a. Nature of pleasure
Some of the pleasures and pains we feel are false [Plato]
Pleasure is a passive state in which the mind increases in perfection [Spinoza]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / b. Types of pleasure
A small pure pleasure is much finer than a large one contaminated with pain [Plato]
Nice smells are intensive, have no preceding pain, and no bad after-effect [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / c. Value of pleasure
Reason, memory, truth and wisdom are far better than pleasure, for those who can attain them [Plato]
Would you prefer a life of pleasure without reason, or one of reason without pleasure? [Plato]
It is unlikely that the gods feel either pleasure or pain [Plato]
It would be strange if the gods rewarded those who experienced the most pleasure in life [Plato]
Some pleasures are not good, and some pains are not evil [Plato]
People tend only to disapprove of pleasure if it leads to pain, or prevents future pleasure [Plato]
Philosophers are concerned with totally non-physical pleasures [Plato]
Most pleasure is release from pain, and is therefore not worthwhile [Plato]
Pleasure is certainly very pleasant, but it doesn't follow that all pleasures are good [Plato]
The good must be sufficient and perfect, and neither intellect nor pleasure are that [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / d. Sources of pleasure
We feel pleasure when we approach our natural state of harmony [Plato]
There are three types of pleasure, for reason, for spirit and for appetite [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / e. Role of pleasure
Everything that takes place naturally is pleasant [Plato]
It is a mistake to think that the most violent pleasure or pain is therefore the truest reality [Plato]
Good and bad people seem to experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain [Plato]
Intense pleasure and pain are not felt in a good body, but in a worthless one [Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / f. Dangers of pleasure
Excessive pleasure deranges people, making the other virtues impossible [Plato]
The conquest of pleasure is the noblest victory of all [Plato]
If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness [Plato]
Pleasure-seekers desperately seek illusory satisfaction, like filling a leaky vessel [Plato]
In a fool's mind desire is like a leaky jar, insatiable in its desires, and order and contentment are better [Plato]
Pleasure is only bad in so far as it hinders a man's capability for action [Spinoza]
23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 1. Ethical Egoism
We should behave well even if invisible, for the health of the mind [Plato]
Reason demands nothing contrary to nature, and so it demands self-love [Spinoza]
Self-satisfaction is the highest thing for which we can hope [Spinoza]
Wickedness is an illness of the soul [Plato]
23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 2. Hedonism
Hedonists must say that someone in pain is bad, even if they are virtuous [Plato]
Is the happiest state one of sensual, self-indulgent freedom? [Plato]
If you lived a life of maximum pleasure, would you still be lacking anything? [Plato]
A life of pure pleasure with no intellect is the life of a jellyfish [Plato]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 1. Contractarianism
Isn't it better to have a reputation for goodness than to actually be good? [Plato]
Morality is a compromise, showing restraint, to avoid suffering wrong without compensation [Plato]
Both virtue and happiness are based on the preservation of one's own being [Spinoza]
Justice is merely the interests of the stronger party [Plato]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 3. Promise Keeping
Surely you don't return a borrowed weapon to a mad friend? [Plato]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 4. Value of Authority
Is right just the interests of the powerful? [Plato]
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 5. Free Rider
Sin first, then sacrifice to the gods from the proceeds [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / a. Nature of virtue
'Arete' signifies lack of complexity and a free-flowing soul [Plato]
Plato, unusually, said that theoretical and practical wisdom are inseparable [Plato, by Kraut]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / b. Basis of virtue
To act virtuously is to act rationally [Spinoza]
The more we strive for our own advantage, the more virtuous we are [Spinoza]
All virtue is founded on self-preservation [Spinoza]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / b. Living naturally
To live according to reason is to live according to the laws of human nature [Spinoza]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / c. Motivation for virtue
For Plato, virtue is its own reward [Lawson-Tancred on Plato]
Virtue is a concord of reason and emotion, with pleasure and pain trained to correct ends [Plato]
A serious desire for moral excellence is very rare indeed [Plato]
Every crime is the result of excessive self-love [Plato]
The only worthwhile life is one devoted to physical and moral perfection [Plato]
The only slavery which is not dishonourable is slavery to excellence [Plato]
Reason impels us towards excellence, which teaches us self-control [Plato]
Should we avoid evil because it will bring us bad consequences? [Plato]
The first step on the right path is the contemplation of physical beauty when young [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / d. Teaching virtue
It seems that virtue is neither natural nor taught, but is a divine gift [Plato]
If we punish wrong-doers, it shows that we believe virtue can be taught [Plato]
Virtue is the aim of all laws [Plato]
Is virtue taught, or achieved by practice, or a natural aptitude, or what? [Plato]
If virtue is a type of knowledge then it ought to be taught [Plato]
Socrates is contradicting himself in claiming virtue can't be taught, but that it is knowledge [Plato]
Socrates did not believe that virtue could be taught [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / e. Character
I would rather be a victim of crime than a criminal [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / f. The Mean
Something which lies midway between two evils is better than either of them [Plato]
The arts produce good and beautiful things by preserving the mean [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / j. Unity of virtue
How can you know part of virtue without knowing the whole? [Plato]
Even if virtues are many and various, they must have something in common to make them virtues [Plato]
A man ignorant of himself is ignorant of all of the virtues [Spinoza]
True goodness requires mental unity and harmony [Plato]
The Guardians must aim to discover the common element in the four cardinal virtues [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues
A good community necessarily has wisdom, courage, self-discipline and morality [Plato]
Unlike us, the early Greeks thought envy was a good thing, and hope a bad thing [Hesiod, by Nietzsche]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / b. Temperance
Self-indulgent desire makes friendship impossible, because it makes a person incapable of co-operation [Plato]
If absence of desire is happiness, then nothing is happier than a stone or a corpse [Plato]
Excessive laughter and tears must be avoided [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice
A criminal is worse off if he avoids punishment [Plato]
Simonides said morality is helping one's friends and harming one's enemies [Plato]
Injustice is the mastery of the soul by bad feelings, even if they do not lead to harm [Plato]
If the parts of our soul do their correct work, we will be just people, and will act justly [Plato]
Do most people praise self-discipline and justice because they are too timid to gain their own pleasure? [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / d. Courage
In a free man, choosing flight can show as much strength of mind as fighting [Spinoza]
Being unafraid (perhaps through ignorance) and being brave are two different things [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / f. Compassion
A person unmoved by either reason or pity to help others is rightly called 'inhuman' [Spinoza]
Pity is a bad and useless thing, as it is a pain, and rational people perform good deeds without it [Spinoza]
Pity is not a virtue, but at least it shows a desire to live uprightly [Spinoza]
People who live according to reason should avoid pity [Spinoza]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / b. Health
The popular view is that health is first, good looks second, and honest wealth third [Plato]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / c. Wealth
The best people are produced where there is no excess of wealth or poverty [Plato]
Virtue and great wealth are incompatible [Plato]
War aims at the acquisition of wealth, because we are enslaved to the body [Plato]
Rational people judge money by needs, and live contented with very little [Spinoza]
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 4. External Goods / d. Friendship
People say that friendship exists only between good men [Plato]
Bad people are never really friends with one another [Plato]
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 3. Universalisability
Rational people are self-interested, but also desire the same goods for other people [Spinoza]
A rational person will want others to have the goods he seeks for himself [Spinoza]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
Plato is boring [Nietzsche on Plato]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
If people are obedient to reason, they will live in harmony [Spinoza]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / b. The natural life
People need society because the individual has too many needs [Plato]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / c. A unified people
Peoples are created by individuals, not by nature, and only distinguished by language and law [Spinoza]
The ideal for human preservation is unanimity among people [Spinoza]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / a. Natural freedom
Only self-knowledge can liberate us [Spinoza, by MacIntyre]
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / c. Natural rights
In nature everything has an absolute right to do anything it is capable of doing [Spinoza]
Natural rights are determined by desire and power, not by reason [Spinoza]
Spinoza extended Hobbes's natural rights to cover all possible desires and actions [Spinoza, by Tuck]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 1. Purpose of a State
Society exists to extend human awareness [Spinoza, by Watson]
As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato]
All exchanges in a community are for mutual benefit [Plato]
The state aims to allow personal development, so its main purpose is freedom [Spinoza]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / a. Sovereignty
Sovereignty must include the power to make people submit to it [Spinoza]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract
After a taste of mutual harm, men make a legal contract to avoid it [Plato]
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship
People doing their jobs properly is the fourth cardinal virtue for a city [Plato]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / b. Monarchy
Kings tend to fight wars for glory, rather than for peace and liberty [Spinoza]
Monarchs are always proud, and can't back down [Spinoza]
Deposing a monarch is dangerous, because the people are used to royal authority [Spinoza]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / c. Despotism
Totalitarian states destroy friendships and community spirit [Plato]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / d. Elites
Reluctant rulers make a better and more unified administration [Plato]
Only rule by philosophers of integrity can keep a community healthy [Plato]
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 4. Changing the State / c. Revolution
Every state is more frightened of its own citizens than of external enemies [Spinoza]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / a. Nature of democracy
Democracy is the worst of good constitutions, but the best of bad constitutions [Plato, by Aristotle]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / c. Direct democracy
A good citizen won't be passive, but will redirect the needs of the state [Plato]
Democracy is a legitimate gathering of people who do whatever they can do [Spinoza]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 7. Communitarianism / a. Communitarianism
Education in virtue produces citizens who are active but obedient [Plato]
Is there anything better for a community than to produce excellent people? [Plato]
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 10. Theocracy
If religion is law, then piety is justice, impiety is crime, and non-believers must leave [Spinoza]
Allowing religious ministers any control of the state is bad for both parties [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
Slavery is a disgraceful crime [Spinoza]
Slavery is not just obedience, but acting only in the interests of the master [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 2. Freedom of belief
Government is oppressive if opinions can be crimes, because people can't give them up [Spinoza]
Without liberty of thought there is no trust in the state, and corruption follows [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 3. Free speech
Treason may be committed as much by words as by deeds [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 6. Political freedom
The freest state is a rational one, where people can submit themselves to reason [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 1. Grounds of equality
Do most people like equality because they are second-rate? [Plato]
Friendship is impossible between master and slave, even if they are made equal [Plato]
Men and women should qualify equally for honours on merit [Plato]
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 4. Economic equality
Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits? [Plato]
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
Spinoza wanted democracy based on individual rights, and is thus the first modern political philosopher [Stewart,M on Spinoza]
The sovereignty has absolute power over citizens [Spinoza]
Sound laws achieve the happiness of those who observe them [Plato]
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 3. Alienating rights
Forming a society meant following reason, and giving up dangerous appetites and mutual harm [Spinoza]
People only give up their rights, and keep promises, if they hope for some greater good [Spinoza]
Once you have given up your rights, there is no going back [Spinoza]
In democracy we don't abandon our rights, but transfer them to the majority of us [Spinoza]
No one, in giving up their power and right, ceases to be a human being [Spinoza]
Everyone who gives up their rights must fear the recipients of them [Spinoza]
The early Hebrews, following Moses, gave up their rights to God alone [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice
Justice is granting the equality which unequals deserve [Plato]
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / c. Natural law
The order of nature does not prohibit anything, and allows whatever appetite produces [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 2. Religion in Society
State and religious law can clash, so the state must make decisions about religion [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / a. Aims of education
Intelligence is the result of rational teaching; true opinion can result from irrational persuasion [Plato]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / b. Education principles
Dialectic is the highest and most important part of the curriculum [Plato]
Mathematics has the widest application of any subject on the curriculum [Plato]
Bad governments prevent discussion, and discourage the study of virtue [Plato]
Children's games should channel their pleasures into adult activity [Plato]
Control of education is the key office of state, and should go to the best citizen [Plato]
To gain knowledge, turn away from the world of change, and focus on true goodness [Plato]
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / c. Teaching
The best way to educate the young is not to rebuke them, but to set a good example [Plato]
Education is channelling a child's feelings into the right course before it understands why [Plato]
The best use of talent is to teach other people to live rationally [Spinoza]
Only a great person can understand the essence of things, and an even greater person can teach it [Plato]
Compulsory intellectual work never remains in the mind [Plato]
Didactic education is hard work and achieves little [Plato]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 4. Suicide
It is impossible that the necessity of a person's nature should produce a desire for non-existence [Spinoza]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 5. Sexual Morality
While sex is very pleasant, it should be in secret, as it looks contemptible [Plato]
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 6. Animal Rights
Animals feel, but that doesn't mean we can't use them for our pleasure and profit [Spinoza]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 1. Nature
We can easily think of nature as one individual [Spinoza]
The cosmos must be unique, because it resembles the creator, who is unique [Plato]
The creator of the cosmos had no envy, and so wanted things to be as like himself as possible [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / a. Final purpose
Creation is not for you; you exist for the sake of creation [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / b. Limited purposes
Nature has no particular goal in view, and final causes are mere human figments [Spinoza]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / c. Purpose denied
Spinoza strongly attacked teleology, which is the lifeblood of classical logos [Roochnik on Spinoza]
For Spinoza eyes don't act for purposes, but follow mechanical necessity [Roochnik on Spinoza]
Final causes are figments of human imagination [Spinoza]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 5. Infinite in Nature
An infinite line can be marked in feet or inches, so one infinity is twelve times the other [Spinoza]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / c. Ultimate substances
In nature there is just one infinite substance [Spinoza]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / d. The unlimited
The unlimited has no shape and is endless [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / e. The One
Some things do not partake of the One [Plato]
The only movement possible for the One is in space or in alteration [Plato]
Everything partakes of the One in some way [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / g. Atomism
We must consider the four basic shapes as too small to see, only becoming visible in large numbers [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 1. Causation
There are two types of cause, the necessary and the divine [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 2. Types of cause
Fancy being unable to distinguish a cause from its necessary background conditions! [Plato]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 3. Final causes
A final cause is simply a human desire [Spinoza]
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / d. Causal necessity
From a definite cause an effect necessarily follows [Spinoza]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / a. Experience of time
Heavenly movements gave us the idea of time, and caused us to inquire about the heavens [Plato]
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 3. Parts of Time / a. Beginning of time
Almost everyone except Plato thinks that time could not have been generated [Plato, by Aristotle]
Time came into existence with the heavens, so that there will be a time when they can be dissolved [Plato]
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 1. Cosmology
If the Earth is spherical and in the centre, it is kept in place by universal symmetry, not by force [Plato]
Clearly the world is good, so its maker must have been concerned with the eternal, not with change [Plato]
27. Natural Reality / E. Cosmology / 3. The Beginning
Movement is transmitted through everything, and it must have started with self-generated motion [Plato]
If the prime origin is destroyed, it will not come into being again out of anything [Plato]
If the cosmos is an object of perception then it must be continually changing [Plato]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 5. Species
The natural offspring of a lion is called a 'lion' (but what about the offspring of a king?) [Plato]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 1. God
The key question for Spinoza is: is his God really a God? [Stewart,M on Spinoza]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature
God does not act according to the freedom of the will [Spinoza]
Only divine things can always stay the same, and bodies are not like that [Plato]
Spinoza's God is just power and necessity, without perfection or wisdom [Leibniz on Spinoza]
Spinoza's God is not a person [Spinoza, by Jolley]
God is wholly without passions, and strictly speaking does not love anyone [Spinoza, by Cottingham]
God is the sum and principle of all eternal laws [Spinoza, by Armstrong,K]
God is not loveable for producing without choice and by necessity; God is loveable for his goodness [Leibniz on Spinoza]
God has no purpose, because God lacks nothing [Spinoza]
Even the gods love play [Plato]
God is a substance with infinite attributes [Spinoza]
God feels no emotions, of joy or sorrow [Spinoza]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 3. Divine Perfections
Gods are not lovers of wisdom, because they are already wise [Plato]
God is a being with infinite attributes, each of them infinite or perfect [Spinoza]
God no more has human perfections than we have animal perfections [Spinoza]
The mind of God is fully satisfied and happy with a vision of reality and truth [Plato]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 4. Divine Contradictions
If Plato's God is immaterial, he will lack consciousness, wisdom, pleasure and movement, which are essential to him [Cicero on Plato]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / b. Euthyphro question
It seems that the gods love things because they are pious, rather than making them pious by loving them [Plato]
Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it? (the 'Euthyphro Question') [Plato]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / c. God is the good
God must be the epitome of goodness, and we can only approach a divine state by being as good as possible [Plato]
To say that God promotes what is good is false, as it sets up a goal beyond God [Spinoza]
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / d. God decrees morality
In 'The Laws', to obey the law is to be obey god [Plato, by MacIntyre]
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof
We couldn't discuss the non-existence of the One without knowledge of it [Plato]
Spinoza says a substance of infinite attributes cannot fail to exist [Spinoza, by Lord]
Denial of God is denial that his essence involves existence, which is absurd [Spinoza]
God is being as such, and you cannot conceive of the non-existence of being [Spinoza, by Lord]
God must necessarily exist, because no reason can be given for his non-existence [Spinoza]
Some things makes me conceive of it as a thing whose essence requires its existence [Spinoza]
28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / b. Ontological Proof critique
If a thing can be conceived as non-existing, its essence does not involve existence [Spinoza]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / a. Cosmological Proof
The only possible beginning for the endless motions of reality is something self-generated [Plato]
Self-moving soul has to be the oldest thing there is [Plato]
Self-generating motion is clearly superior to all other kinds of motion [Plato]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof
Soul must be the cause of all the opposites, such as good and evil or beauty and ugliness [Plato]
If all the motions of nature reflect calculations of reason, then the best kind of soul must direct it [Plato]
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / e. Miracles
Trying to prove God's existence through miracles is proving the obscure by the more obscure [Spinoza]
Priests reject as heretics anyone who tries to understand miracles in a natural way [Spinoza]
28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 2. Pantheism
That God is the substance of all things is an ill-reputed doctrine [Leibniz on Spinoza]
The human mind is part of the infinite intellect of God [Spinoza]
God is the efficient cause of essences, as well as of existences [Spinoza]
Everything is in God, and nothing exists or is thinkable without God [Spinoza]
28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 3. Deism
If the gods are non-existent or indifferent, why bother to deceive them? [Plato]
28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 4. God Reflects Humanity
We cannot conceive of God, so we have to think of Him as an immortal version of ourselves [Plato]
A talking triangle would say God is triangular [Spinoza]
28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 5. Atheism
In Spinoza, one could substitute 'nature' or 'substance' for the word 'God' throughout [Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
There isn't a single reason for positing the existence of immortal beings [Plato]
If astronomical movements are seen as necessary instead of by divine will, this leads to atheism [Plato]
29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 1. Animism
The heavens must be full of gods, controlling nature either externally or from within [Plato]
29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 4. Dualist Religion
There must be at least two souls controlling the cosmos, one doing good, the other the opposite [Plato]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 2. Judaism
Hebrews were very hostile to other states, who had not given up their rights to God [Spinoza]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 5. Bible
The Bible has nothing in common with reasoning and philosophy [Spinoza]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality
Soul is always in motion, so it must be self-moving and immortal [Plato]
Spinoza's theory of mind implies that there is no immortality [Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
After death, something eternal remains of the mind [Spinoza]
Whether the soul pre-exists our body depends on whether it contains the ultimate standard of reality [Plato]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / b. Soul
Something is unlikely to be immortal if it is imperfectly made from diverse parts [Plato]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / d. Heaven
Is the supreme reward for virtue to be drunk for eternity? [Plato]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / a. Problem of Evil
There must always be some force of evil ranged against good [Plato]
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / d. Natural Evil
God is responsible for the good things, but we must look elsewhere for the cause of the bad things [Plato]