91 ideas
| 21405 | Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral [Cicero, by Long] |
| 20871 | Unfortunately we choose a way of life before we are old enough to think clearly [Cicero] |
| 5893 | A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience [Cicero] |
| 5891 | Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments [Cicero] |
| 2661 | Dialectic is speech cast in the form of logical argument [Cicero] |
| 2653 | If the parts of the universe are subject to the law of nature, the whole universe must also be subject to it [Cicero] |
| 2673 | There cannot be more than one truth [Cicero] |
| 5728 | The concept of truth was originated by the senses [Lucretius] |
| 18270 | Choice suggests that intensions are not needed to ensure classes [Coffa] |
| 21677 | How can the not-true fail to be false, or the not-false fail to be true? [Cicero] |
| 2669 | Dialectic assumes that all statements are either true or false, but self-referential paradoxes are a big problem [Cicero] |
| 18263 | The semantic tradition aimed to explain the a priori semantically, not by Kantian intuition [Coffa] |
| 18272 | Platonism defines the a priori in a way that makes it unknowable [Coffa] |
| 2664 | If we have complete healthy senses, what more could the gods give us? [Cicero] |
| 5729 | If the senses are deceptive, reason, which rests on them, is even worse [Lucretius] |
| 5702 | The senses are much the best way to distinguish true from false [Lucretius] |
| 2665 | How can there be a memory of what is false? [Cicero] |
| 5697 | The only possible standard for settling doubts is the foundation of the senses [Lucretius] |
| 5727 | Most supposed delusions of the senses are really misinterpretations by the mind [Lucretius] |
| 20800 | Every true presentation can have a false one of the same quality [Cicero] |
| 5714 | Even simple facts are hard to believe at first hearing [Lucretius] |
| 5718 | The mind is in the middle of the breast, because there we experience fear and joy [Lucretius] |
| 5717 | The mind is a part of a man, just like a hand or an eye [Lucretius] |
| 5879 | The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath [Cicero] |
| 21387 | The separate elements and capacities of a mind cannot be distinguished [Lucretius] |
| 5884 | How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations? [Cicero] |
| 5887 | The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish [Cicero] |
| 18266 | Mathematics generalises by using variables [Coffa] |
| 5886 | Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things [Cicero] |
| 5709 | The actions of the mind are not determinate and passive, because atoms can swerve [Lucretius] |
| 6029 | Whoever knows future causes knows everything that will be [Cicero] |
| 5695 | Only bodies can touch one another [Lucretius] |
| 5711 | The earth is and always has been an insentient being [Lucretius] |
| 5712 | Particles may have sensation, but eggs turning into chicks suggests otherwise [Lucretius] |
| 2628 | Why would mind mix with matter if it didn't need it? [Cicero] |
| 5719 | The mind moves limbs, wakes the body up, changes facial expressions, which involve touch [Lucretius] |
| 5724 | Lions, foxes and deer have distinct characters because their minds share in their bodies [Lucretius] |
| 5713 | You needn't be made of laughing particles to laugh, so why not sensation from senseless seeds? [Lucretius] |
| 5885 | Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls [Cicero] |
| 21667 | Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it [Cicero] |
| 20814 | Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery [Cicero] |
| 6611 | One man's meat is another man's poison [Lucretius] |
| 21678 | If desire is not in our power then neither are choices, so we should not be praised or punished [Cicero] |
| 5730 | Our bodies weren't created to be used; on the contrary, their creation makes a use possible [Lucretius] |
| 5726 | The dead are no different from those who were never born [Lucretius] |
| 5705 | Nature only wants two things: freedom from pain, and pleasure [Lucretius] |
| 2672 | Virtues must be very detached, to avoid being motivated by pleasure [Cicero] |
| 5890 | We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it [Cicero] |
| 5894 | All men except philosophers fear poverty [Cicero] |
| 6031 | The essence of propriety is consistency [Cicero] |
| 5895 | If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero] |
| 2640 | We have the death penalty, but still have thousands of robbers [Cicero] |
| 2652 | Some regard nature simply as an irrational force that imparts movement [Cicero] |
| 5716 | Nature runs the universe by herself without the aid of gods [Lucretius] |
| 5704 | There can be no centre in infinity [Lucretius] |
| 5703 | The universe must be limitless, since there could be nothing outside to limit it [Lucretius] |
| 5693 | Everything is created and fed by nature from atoms, and they return to atoms in death [Lucretius] |
| 5701 | If an object is infinitely subdivisible, it will be the same as the whole universe [Lucretius] |
| 5708 | In downward motion, atoms occasionally swerve slightly for no reason [Lucretius] |
| 17004 | Nothing can break the binding laws of eternity [Lucretius] |
| 5696 | If there were no space there could be no movement, or even creation [Lucretius] |
| 5706 | Atoms move themselves [Lucretius] |
| 5700 | It is quicker to break things up than to assemble them [Lucretius] |
| 18279 | Relativity is as absolutist about space-time as Newton was about space [Coffa] |
| 5698 | We can only sense time by means of movement, or its absence [Lucretius] |
| 5715 | This earth is very unlikely to be the only one created [Lucretius] |
| 5694 | Nothing can be created by divine power out of nothing [Lucretius] |
| 2645 | Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction? [Cicero] |
| 2627 | I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue [Cicero] |
| 2651 | God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God [Cicero] |
| 2634 | It seems clear to me that we have an innate idea of the divine [Cicero] |
| 2636 | Many primitive people know nothing of the gods [Cicero] |
| 5699 | If matter wasn't everlasting, everything would have disappeared by now [Lucretius] |
| 2655 | If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed [Cicero] |
| 2656 | Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem [Cicero] |
| 2650 | If a person cannot feel the power of God when looking at the stars, they are probably incapable of feeling [Cicero] |
| 2647 | It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium [Cicero] |
| 5707 | The universe can't have been created by gods, because it is too imperfect [Lucretius] |
| 2657 | If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine [Cicero] |
| 2638 | Either the gods are identical, or one is more beautiful than another [Cicero] |
| 5710 | Gods are tranquil and aloof, and have no need of or interest in us [Lucretius] |
| 2635 | The gods are happy, so virtuous, so rational, so must have human shape [Cicero] |
| 5731 | Why does Jupiter never hurl lightning from a blue sky? [Lucretius] |
| 2641 | Why believe in gods if you have never seen them? [Cicero] |
| 5720 | Spirit is mortal [Lucretius] |
| 5722 | For a separated spirit to remain sentient it would need sense organs attached to it [Lucretius] |
| 5725 | An immortal mind couldn't work harmoniously with a mortal body [Lucretius] |
| 5721 | The mind is very small smooth particles, which evaporate at death [Lucretius] |
| 5723 | If spirit is immortal and enters us at birth, why don't we remember a previous existence? [Lucretius] |
| 2659 | The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless [Cicero] |
| 2658 | The gods blame men for having vices, but they could have given us enough reason to avoid them [Cicero] |