501 ideas
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] |
9438 | Maybe analysis seeks the 'nominal essence', and metaphysics seeks the 'real essence' [Locke, by Mumford] |
7653 | I am just an under-labourer, clearing the ground in preparation for knowledge [Locke] |
17200 | We must be careful to keep words distinct from ideas and images [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
12526 | Opposition to reason is mad [Locke] |
4819 | There is necessarily for each existent thing a cause why it should exist [Spinoza] |
16541 | All the intrinsic properties of a thing should be deducible from its definition [Spinoza] |
12538 | Genus is a partial conception of species, and species a partial idea of individuals [Locke] |
16797 | Maybe Locke described the real essence of a person [Locke, by Pasnau] |
12573 | Ad Hominem: press a man with the consequences of his own principle [Locke] |
12491 | Asking whether man's will is free is liking asking if sleep is fast or virtue is square [Locke] |
21864 | Truth is its own standard [Spinoza] |
8018 | Spinoza's life shows that love of truth which he proclaims as the highest value [MacIntyre on Spinoza] |
12549 | Nothing is so beautiful to the eye as truth is to the mind [Locke] |
12558 | Truth only belongs to mental or verbal propositions [Locke] |
12522 | It is propositions which are true or false, though it is sometimes said of ideas [Locke] |
12523 | If they refer to real substances, 'man' is a true idea and 'centaur' a false one [Locke] |
5641 | For Spinoza, 'adequacy' is the intrinsic mark of truth [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
4816 | A true idea must correspond with its ideate or object [Spinoza] |
8084 | Syllogisms are verbal fencing, not discovery [Locke] |
12572 | Many people can reason well, yet can't make a syllogism [Locke] |
20309 | If our ideas are adequate, what follows from them is also adequate [Spinoza] |
10055 | Mathematical proofs work, irrespective of whether the objects exist [Locke] |
17185 | Mathematics deals with the essences and properties of forms [Spinoza] |
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] |
12488 | The idea of 'one' is the simplest, most obvious and most widespread idea [Locke] |
12489 | If there were real infinities, you could add two together, which is ridiculous [Locke] |
12556 | Mathematics is just about ideas, so whether circles exist is irrelevant [Locke] |
7782 | Every simple idea we ever have brings the idea of unity along with it [Locke] |
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] |
8910 | General and universal are not real entities, but useful inventions of the mind, concerning words or ideas [Locke] |
17179 | There must always be a reason or cause why some triangle does or does not exist [Spinoza] |
12554 | Existences can only be known by experience [Locke] |
17186 | Men say they prefer order, not realising that we imagine the order [Spinoza] |
12502 | Comparisons boil down to simple elements of sensation or reflection [Locke] |
12568 | God assures me of the existence of external things [Locke] |
20127 | Laws of nature are universal, so everything must be understood through those laws [Spinoza] |
12516 | Obscure simple ideas result from poor senses, brief impressions, or poor memory [Locke] |
12517 | Ideas are uncertain when they are unnamed, because too close to other ideas [Locke] |
13435 | We can't categorise things by their real essences, because these are unknown [Locke] |
12535 | If we discovered real essences, we would still categorise things by the external appearance [Locke] |
13436 | There are no gaps in the continuum of nature, and everything has something closely resembling it [Locke] |
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] |
12477 | We get the idea of power from our own actions, and the interaction of external bodies [Locke] |
12490 | Power is active or passive, and has a relation to actions [Locke] |
12521 | We can only know a thing's powers when we have combined it with many things [Locke] |
17195 | Things persevere through a force which derives from God [Spinoza] |
15974 | The essence of whiteness in a man is nothing but the power to produce the idea of whiteness [Locke] |
17206 | The essence of a thing is its effort to persevere [Spinoza] |
15976 | What is the texture - the real essence - which makes substances behave in distinct ways? [Locke] |
15983 | Locke explains powers, but effectively eliminates them with his talk of internal structure [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
6487 | Locke, Berkeley and Hume did no serious thinking about universals [Robinson,H on Locke] |
17192 | The 'universal' term 'man' is just imagining whatever is the same in a multitude of men [Spinoza] |
7717 | All things that exist are particulars [Locke] |
7718 | Universals do not exist, but are useful inventions of the mind, involving words or ideas [Locke] |
12499 | Bodies distinctively have cohesion of parts, and power to communicate motion [Locke] |
1211 | Viewing an object at an instant, we perceive identity when we see it must be that thing and not another [Locke] |
12508 | Living things retain identity through change, by a principle of organisation [Locke] |
12506 | A thing is individuated just by existing at a time and place [Locke] |
12563 | Obviously two bodies cannot be in the same place [Locke] |
12529 | I speak of a 'sortal' name, from the word 'sort' [Locke] |
17188 | A thing is unified if its parts produce a single effect [Spinoza] |
8546 | Powers are part of our idea of substances [Locke] |
5639 | Spinoza implies that thought is impossible without the notion of substance [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
1196 | We can conceive of three sorts of substance: God, finite intelligence, and bodies [Locke] |
12536 | We sort and name substances by nominal and not by real essence [Locke] |
21857 | Substance is the power of self-actualisation [Spinoza, by Lord] |
4813 | Substance is that of which an independent conception can be formed [Spinoza] |
7945 | We think of substance as experienced qualities plus a presumed substratum of support [Locke] |
12485 | We don't know what substance is, and only vaguely know what it does [Locke] |
16796 | Locke may accept coinciding material substances, such as body, man and person [Locke, by Pasnau] |
12507 | A mass consists of its atoms, so the addition or removal of one changes its identity [Locke] |
12559 | Complex ideas are collections of qualities we attach to an unknown substratum [Locke] |
12887 | A whole must have one characteristic, an internal relation, and a structure [Rescher/Oppenheim] |
4828 | The essence of a thing is what is required for it to exist or be conceived [Spinoza] |
12498 | Particular substances are coexisting ideas that seem to flow from a hidden essence [Locke] |
12520 | The best I can make of real essence is figure, size and connection of solid parts [Locke] |
13771 | Real essence is the constitution of the unknown parts of a body which produce its qualities [Locke] |
16038 | Locke may distinguish real essence from internal constitution, claiming the latter is knowable [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12810 | We can conceive an individual without assigning it to a kind [Locke, by Jolley] |
16786 | You can't distinguish individuals without the species as a standard [Locke] |
15992 | Many individuals grouped under one name vary more than some things that have different names [Locke] |
15990 | Every individual thing which exists has an essence, which is its internal constitution [Locke] |
12530 | The less rational view of essences is that they are moulds for kinds of natural thing [Locke] |
12532 | Even real essence depends on a sort, since it is sorts which have the properties [Locke] |
12539 | If every sort has its real essence, one horse, being many sorts, will have many essences [Locke] |
12510 | Not all identity is unity of substance [Locke] |
11155 | Essence is the very being of any thing, whereby it is what it is [Locke] |
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] |
12560 | We can only slightly know necessary co-existence of qualities, if they are primary [Locke] |
17184 | All natures of things produce some effect [Spinoza] |
16787 | Explanatory essence won't do, because it won't distinguish the accidental from the essential [Locke, by Pasnau] |
16028 | Lockean real essence makes a thing what it is, and produces its observable qualities [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12305 | Locke's essences determine the other properties, so the two will change together [Locke, by Copi] |
15985 | It is impossible for two things with the same real essence to differ in properties [Locke] |
12534 | We cannot know what properties are necessary to gold, unless we first know its real essence [Locke] |
13434 | In our ideas, the idea of essence is inseparable from the concept of a species [Locke] |
16035 | If we based species on real essences, the individuals would be as indistinguishable as two circles [Locke] |
16036 | Internal constitution doesn't decide a species; should a watch contain four wheels or five? [Locke] |
12540 | Artificial things like watches and pistols have distinct kinds [Locke] |
12812 | Things have real essences, but we categorise them according to the ideas we receive [Locke] |
16031 | Real essence explains observable qualities, but not what kind of thing it is [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
15646 | If essence is 'nominal', artificial gold (with its surface features) would qualify as 'gold' [Locke, by Eagle] |
12306 | 'Nominal essence' is everything contained in the idea of a particular sort of thing [Locke, by Copi] |
15988 | The observable qualities are never the real essence, since they depend on real essence [Locke] |
15644 | In nominal essence, Locke confuses the set of properties with the abstracted idea of them [Eagle on Locke] |
12537 | To be a nominal essence, a complex idea must exhibit unity [Locke] |
16029 | Locke's real and nominal essence refers back to Aristotle's real and nominal definitions [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12531 | Nominal Essence is the abstract idea to which a name is attached [Locke] |
13433 | Essences relate to sorting words; if you replace those with names, essences vanish [Locke] |
12533 | Real essences are unknown, so only the nominal essence connects things to a species [Locke] |
12557 | Our ideas of substance are based on mental archetypes, but these come from the world [Locke] |
12561 | For 'all gold is malleable' to be necessary, it must be part of gold's nominal essence [Locke] |
4869 | Experience does not teach us any essences of things [Spinoza] |
12525 | The essence of a triangle is simple; presumably substance essences are similar [Locke] |
13431 | A space between three lines is both the nominal and real essence of a triangle, the source of its properties [Locke] |
13423 | The schools recognised that they don't really know essences, because they couldn't coin names for them [Locke] |
12804 | There are no independent natural kinds - or our classifications have to be subjective [Locke, by Jolley] |
12547 | We know five properties of gold, but cannot use four of them to predict the fifth one [Locke] |
12503 | Identity means that the idea of a thing remains the same over time [Locke] |
12505 | One thing cannot have two beginnings of existence, nor two things one beginning [Locke] |
17205 | Only an external cause can destroy something [Spinoza] |
16795 | Same person, man or substance are different identities, belonging to different ideas [Locke] |
12504 | Two things can't occupy one place and time, which leads us to the idea of self-identity [Locke] |
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] |
12553 | Some of our ideas contain relations which we cannot conceive to be absent [Locke] |
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] |
12544 | Our knowledge falls short of the extent of our own ideas [Locke] |
5640 | Spinoza's three levels of knowledge are perception/imagination, then principles, then intuitions [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
17211 | Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind [Spinoza] |
12574 | When two ideas agree in my mind, I cannot refuse to see and know it [Locke] |
21801 | Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief [Spinoza, by Schmid] |
17193 | True ideas intrinsically involve the highest degree of certainty [Spinoza] |
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] |
15995 | The greatest certainty is knowing our own ideas, and that two ideas are different [Locke] |
12562 | General certainty is only found in ideas [Locke] |
15994 | If it is knowledge, it is certain; if it isn't certain, it isn't knowledge [Locke] |
12569 | Knowledge by senses is less certain than that by intuition or reason, but it is still knowledge [Locke] |
12564 | I am as certain of the thing doubting, as I am of the doubt [Locke] |
5638 | 'I think' is useless, because it is contingent, and limited to the first person [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
7570 | Innate ideas are trivial (if they are just potentials) or absurd (if they claim infants know a lot) [Locke, by Jolley] |
12472 | If the only test of innateness is knowing, then all of our knowledge is innate [Locke] |
7709 | A proposition can't be in the mind if we aren't conscious of it [Locke] |
4018 | Innate ideas were followed up with innate doctrines, which stopped reasoning and made social control possible [Locke] |
7723 | The senses first let in particular ideas, which furnish the empty cabinet [Locke] |
7507 | The mind is white paper, with no writing, or ideas [Locke] |
12474 | The mind is a blank page, on which only experience can write [Locke] |
12518 | The mind cannot produce simple ideas [Locke] |
12478 | A 'quality' is a power to produce an idea in our minds [Locke] |
12481 | Hands can report conflicting temperatures, but not conflicting shapes [Locke] |
12546 | We can't know how primary and secondary qualities connect together [Locke] |
15989 | Colours, smells and tastes are ideas; the secondary qualities have no colour, smell or taste [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
15971 | Secondary qualities are powers of complex primary qualities to produce sensations in us [Locke] |
6725 | Locke believes matter is an inert, senseless substance, with extension, figure and motion [Locke, by Berkeley] |
15982 | Qualities are named as primary if they are needed for scientific explanation [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
12479 | Primary qualities produce simple ideas, such as solidity, extension, motion and number [Locke] |
12480 | Ideas of primary qualities resemble their objects, but those of secondary qualities don't [Locke] |
7049 | In Locke, the primary qualities are also powers [Locke, by Heil] |
15973 | In my view Locke's 'textures' are groups of corpuscles which are powers (rather than 'having' powers) [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
7050 | I suspect that Locke did not actually believe colours are 'in the mind' [Locke, by Heil] |
15979 | Secondary qualities are simply the bare powers of an object [Locke] |
4831 | If the body is affected by an external object, the mind can't help believing that the object exists [Spinoza] |
12482 | Molyneux's Question: could a blind man distinguish cube from sphere, if he regained his sight? [Locke] |
4865 | The eyes of the mind are proofs [Spinoza] |
7724 | All the ideas written on the white paper of the mind can only come from one place - experience [Locke] |
20306 | Once we have experienced two feelings together, one will always give rise to the other [Spinoza] |
12527 | Some ideas connect together naturally, while others connect by chance or custom [Locke] |
12555 | The constant link between whiteness and things that produce it is the basis of our knowledge [Locke] |
12542 | Knowledge is just the connection or disagreement of our ideas [Locke] |
16637 | The absolute boundaries of our thought are the ideas we get from senses and the mind [Locke] |
2793 | It is unclear how identity, equality, perfection, God, power and cause derive from experience [Locke, by Dancy,J] |
12543 | Intuition gives us direct and certain knowledge of what is obvious [Locke] |
19517 | Believing without a reason may just be love of your own fantasies [Locke] |
4835 | Anyone who knows, must know that they know, and even know that they know that they know.. [Spinoza] |
15977 | Facts beyond immediate experience are assessed by agreement with known truths and observations [Locke] |
20308 | Encounters with things confuse the mind, and internal comparisons bring clarity [Spinoza] |
2555 | For Locke knowledge relates to objects, not to propositions [Locke, by Rorty] |
10326 | Other men's opinions don't add to our knowledge - even when they are true [Locke] |
6488 | Locke has no patience with scepticism [Locke, by Robinson,H] |
4312 | To understand a phenomenon, we must understand why it is necessary, not merely contingent [Spinoza, by Cottingham] |
13073 | To understand the properties we must know the essence, as with a circle [Spinoza] |
16037 | Locke seems to use real essence for scientific explanation, and substratum for the being of a thing [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
16032 | To explain qualities, Locke invokes primary and secondary qualities, not real essences [Locke, by Jones,J-E] |
12519 | Gold is supposed to have a real essence, from whence its detectable properties flow [Locke] |
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] |
12551 | We are satisfied that other men have minds, from their words and actions [Locke] |
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] |
12483 | Unlike humans, animals cannot entertain general ideas [Locke] |
17212 | To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind [Spinoza] |
5002 | Consciousness is the perception of what passes in a man's own mind [Locke] |
2603 | If we aren't aware that an idea is innate, the concept of innate is meaningless; if we do, all ideas seem innate [Locke] |
2421 | There is nothing illogical about inverted qualia [Locke] |
3522 | The same object might produce violet in one mind and marigold in another [Locke] |
21804 | Faculties are either fictions, or the abstract universals of ideas [Spinoza] |
7721 | Locke's view that thoughts are made of ideas asserts the crucial role of imagination [Locke] |
12476 | Every external object or internal idea suggests to us the idea of unity [Locke] |
12501 | The mind can make a unity out of anything, no matter how diverse [Locke] |
9083 | The mind creates abstractions by generalising about appearances of objects, ignoring time or place [Locke] |
7040 | General words represent general ideas, which are abstractions from immediate circumstances [Locke] |
4832 | If the body is affected by two things together, the imagining of one will conjure up the other [Spinoza] |
12528 | If a man sees a friend die in a room, he associates the pain with the room [Locke] |
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] |
5512 | Locke uses 'self' for a momentary entity, and 'person' for an extended one [Locke, by Martin/Barresi] |
1202 | A person is intelligent, rational, self-aware, continuous, conscious [Locke] |
1381 | Someone mad then sane is two persons, judging by our laws and punishments [Locke] |
1385 | 'Person' is a term used about responsibility, involving law, and happiness and misery [Locke] |
1372 | Our personal identity must depend on something we are aware of, namely consciousness [Locke] |
1378 | My little finger is part of me if I am conscious of it [Locke] |
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] |
17216 | The poet who forgot his own tragedies was no longer the same man [Spinoza] |
5175 | Personal identity is my perceptions, but not my memory, as I forget too much [Ayer on Locke] |
1363 | Locke's theory confusingly tries to unite consciousness and memory [Reid on Locke] |
1368 | Locke mistakes similarity of a memory to its original event for identity [Reid on Locke] |
1373 | Identity over time involves remembering actions just as they happened [Locke] |
1380 | Should we punish people who commit crimes in their sleep? [Locke] |
5511 | For Locke, conscious awareness unifies a person at an instant and over time [Locke, by Martin/Barresi] |
12509 | If the soul individuates a man, and souls are transferable, then a hog could be a man [Locke] |
1376 | Identity must be in consciousness not substance, because it seems transferable [Locke] |
12512 | If someone becomes conscious of Nestor's actions, then he is Nestor [Locke] |
12513 | If a prince's soul entered a cobbler's body, the person would be the prince (and the man the cobbler) [Locke] |
12514 | On Judgement Day, no one will be punished for actions they cannot remember [Locke] |
1397 | Locke sees underlying substance as irrelevant to personal identity [Locke, by Noonan] |
6139 | Locke implies that each thought has two thinkers - me, and 'my' substance [Merricks on Locke] |
5513 | Two persons might have qualitatively identical consciousnesses, so that isn't enough [Kant on Locke] |
1345 | Locke's move from substance to consciousness is a slippery slope [Butler on Locke] |
1197 | No two thoughts at different times can be the same, as they have different beginnings [Locke] |
1364 | Locke confuses the test for personal identity with the thing itself [Reid on Locke] |
12511 | If consciousness is interrupted, and we forget our past selves, are we still the same thinking thing? [Locke] |
1361 | If identity is consciousness, could a person move between bodies or fragment into parts? [Reid on Locke] |
21326 | Locke's memory theory of identity confuses personal identity with the test for it [Reid on Locke] |
1387 | Butler thought Locke's theory was doomed once he rejected mental substance [Perry on Locke] |
12809 | Nothing about me is essential [Locke] |
4814 | A thing is free if it acts by necessity of its own nature, and the act is determined by itself alone [Spinoza] |
3792 | We are free to decide not to follow our desires [Locke] |
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] |
12494 | Men are not free to will, because they cannot help willing [Locke] |
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] |
12492 | Liberty is a power of agents, so can't be an attribute of wills [Locke] |
12493 | A man is free insofar as he can act according to his own preferences [Locke] |
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] |
7840 | For all we know, an omnipotent being might have enabled material beings to think [Locke] |
12500 | Thinking without matter and matter that thinks are equally baffling [Locke] |
15996 | We can't begin to conceive what would produce some particular experience within our minds [Locke] |
12552 | Thoughts moving bodies, and bodies producing thoughts, are equally unknowable [Locke] |
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] |
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] |
6712 | For Locke, abstract ideas are our main superiority of understanding over animals [Locke, by Berkeley] |
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] |
12496 | Complex ideas are all resolvable into simple ideas [Locke] |
15967 | The word 'idea' covers thinking best, for imaginings, concepts, and basic experiences [Locke] |
6486 | Ideas are the objects of understanding when we think [Locke] |
20311 | An idea involves affirmation or negation [Spinoza] |
12475 | All our ideas derive either from sensation, or from inner reflection [Locke] |
17735 | Simple ideas are produced in us by external things, and they match their appearances [Locke] |
12471 | Innate ideas are nothing, if they are in the mind but we are unaware of them [Locke] |
5827 | A species of thing is an abstract idea, and a word is a sign that refers to the idea [Locke] |
7716 | Words were devised as signs for inner ideas, and their basic meaning is those ideas [Locke] |
7308 | Words stand for the ideas in the mind of him that uses them [Locke] |
12524 | For the correct reference of complex ideas, we can only refer to experts [Locke] |
15991 | Since words are just conventional, we can represent our own ideas with any words we please [Locke] |
4309 | Spinoza argues that in reality the will and the intellect are 'one and the same' [Spinoza, by Cottingham] |
4838 | Claiming that actions depend on the will is meaningless; no one knows what the will is [Spinoza] |
20305 | Whenever we act, then desire is our very essence [Spinoza] |
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] |
4870 | The most beautiful hand seen through the microscope will appear horrible [Spinoza] |
4130 | There couldn't be a moral rule of which a man could not justly demand a reason [Locke] |
4867 | Whether nature is beautiful or orderly is entirely in relation to human imagination [Spinoza] |
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] |
12495 | Pursuit of happiness is the highest perfection of intellectual nature [Locke] |
12541 | Morality can be demonstrated, because we know the real essences behind moral words [Locke] |
12473 | We can demand a reason for any moral rule [Locke] |
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] |
4845 | We don't want things because they are good; we judge things to be good because we want them [Spinoza] |
17217 | Love is joy with an external cause [Spinoza] |
4848 | Love is nothing else but pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause [Spinoza] |
7833 | Spinoza names self-interest as the sole source of value [Spinoza, by Stewart,M] |
17224 | If our ideas were wholly adequate, we would have no concept of evil [Spinoza] |
21870 | Music is good for a melancholic, bad for a mourner, and indifferent to the deaf [Spinoza] |
1386 | A concern for happiness is the inevitable result of consciousness [Locke] |
4860 | Man's highest happiness consists of perfecting his understanding, or reason [Spinoza] |
4847 | Pleasure is a passive state in which the mind increases in perfection [Spinoza] |
4859 | Pleasure is only bad in so far as it hinders a man's capability for action [Spinoza] |
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] |
4019 | Things are good and evil only in reference to pleasure and pain [Locke] |
4852 | Both virtue and happiness are based on the preservation of one's own being [Spinoza] |
17214 | To act virtuously is to act rationally [Spinoza] |
21871 | The more we strive for our own advantage, the more virtuous we are [Spinoza] |
12515 | Actions are virtuous if they are judged praiseworthy [Locke] |
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] |
17221 | A man ignorant of himself is ignorant of all of the virtues [Spinoza] |
17225 | In a free man, choosing flight can show as much strength of mind as fighting [Spinoza] |
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] |
17228 | Rational people judge money by needs, and live contented with very little [Spinoza] |
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] |
4855 | If people are obedient to reason, they will live in harmony [Spinoza] |
19906 | All countries are in a mutual state of nature [Locke] |
19882 | We are not created for solitude, but are driven into society by our needs [Locke] |
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] |
19864 | In nature men can dispose of possessions and their persons in any way that is possible [Locke] |
19865 | There is no subjection in nature, and all creatures of the same species are equal [Locke] |
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] |
19866 | The rational law of nature says we are all equal and independent, and should show mutual respect [Locke] |
19872 | The animals and fruits of the earth belong to mankind [Locke] |
19907 | There is a natural right to inheritance within a family [Locke] |
7487 | Society exists to extend human awareness [Spinoza, by Watson] |
19943 | The state aims to allow personal development, so its main purpose is freedom [Spinoza] |
19863 | Politics is the right to make enforceable laws to protect property and the state, for the common good [Locke] |
19930 | Sovereignty must include the power to make people submit to it [Spinoza] |
5654 | The Second Treatise explores the consequences of the contractual view of the state [Locke, by Scruton] |
19888 | A society only begins if there is consent of all the individuals to join it [Locke] |
6702 | If anyone enjoys the benefits of government (even using a road) they give tacit assent to its laws [Locke] |
19909 | A politic society is created from a state of nature by a unanimous agreement [Locke] |
19910 | A single will creates the legislature, which is duty-bound to preserve that will [Locke] |
19893 | Anyone who enjoys the benefits of a state has given tacit consent to be part of it [Locke] |
19894 | You can only become an actual member of a commonwealth by an express promise [Locke] |
19892 | Children are not born into citizenship of a state [Locke] |
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] |
19885 | Absolute monarchy is inconsistent with civil society [Locke] |
19886 | The idea that absolute power improves mankind is confuted by history [Locke] |
19903 | Despotism is arbitrary power to kill, based neither on natural equality, nor any social contract [Locke] |
19905 | People stripped of their property are legitimately subject to despotism [Locke] |
19904 | Legitimate prisoners of war are subject to despotism, because that continues the state of war [Locke] |
19895 | Even the legislature must be preceded by a law which gives it power to make laws [Locke] |
19900 | The executive must not be the legislature, or they may exempt themselves from laws [Locke] |
19931 | Every state is more frightened of its own citizens than of external enemies [Spinoza] |
19902 | Any obstruction to the operation of the legislature can be removed forcibly by the people [Locke] |
19908 | Rebelling against an illegitimate power is no sin [Locke] |
19911 | If legislators confiscate property, or enslave people, they are no longer owed obedience [Locke] |
19901 | The people have supreme power, to depose a legislature which has breached their trust [Locke] |
19887 | Unanimous consent makes a united community, which is then ruled by the majority [Locke] |
19920 | Democracy is a legitimate gathering of people who do whatever they can do [Spinoza] |
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] |
19913 | A master forfeits ownership of slaves he abandons [Locke] |
19923 | Slavery is not just obedience, but acting only in the interests of the master [Spinoza] |
19883 | Slaves captured in a just war have no right to property, so are not part of civil society [Locke] |
19870 | If you try to enslave me, you have declared war on me [Locke] |
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] |
19871 | Freedom is not absence of laws, but living under laws arrived at by consent [Locke] |
19924 | The freest state is a rational one, where people can submit themselves to reason [Spinoza] |
19880 | All value depends on the labour involved [Locke] |
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] |
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] |
19873 | We all own our bodies, and the work we do is our own [Locke] |
19884 | There is only a civil society if the members give up all of their natural executive rights [Locke] |
19879 | A man owns land if he cultivates it, to the limits of what he needs [Locke] |
6580 | Locke (and Marx) held that ownership of objects is a natural relation, based on the labour put into it [Locke, by Fogelin] |
20520 | Locke says 'mixing of labour' entitles you to land, as well as nuts and berries [Wolff,J on Locke] |
19875 | A man's labour gives ownership rights - as long as there are fair shares for all [Locke] |
19874 | If a man mixes his labour with something in Nature, he thereby comes to own it [Locke] |
19877 | Fountain water is everyone's, but a drawn pitcher of water has an owner [Locke] |
19876 | Gathering natural fruits gives ownership; the consent of other people is irrelevant [Locke] |
19878 | Mixing labour with a thing bestows ownership - as long as the thing is not wasted [Locke] |
12548 | It is certain that injustice requires property, since it is a violation of the right to property [Locke] |
19898 | Soldiers can be commanded to die, but not to hand over their money [Locke] |
19881 | The aim of law is not restraint, but to make freedom possible [Locke] |
19916 | The order of nature does not prohibit anything, and allows whatever appetite produces [Spinoza] |
19868 | It is only by a law of Nature that we can justify punishing foreigners [Locke] |
19867 | Reparation and restraint are the only justifications for punishment [Locke] |
19912 | Self-defence is natural, but not the punishment of superiors by inferiors [Locke] |
19869 | Punishment should make crime a bad bargain, leading to repentance and deterrence [Locke] |
19927 | State and religious law can clash, so the state must make decisions about religion [Spinoza] |
19899 | The consent of the people is essential for any tax [Locke] |
17226 | The best use of talent is to teach other people to live rationally [Spinoza] |
4854 | It is impossible that the necessity of a person's nature should produce a desire for non-existence [Spinoza] |
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] |
15997 | We are so far from understanding the workings of natural bodies that it is pointless to even try [Locke] |
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] |
15978 | I take 'matter' to be a body, excluding its extension in space and its shape [Locke] |
15170 | We distinguish species by their nominal essence, not by their real essence [Locke] |
15993 | If we observe total regularity, there must be some unknown law and relationships controlling it [Locke] |
4850 | A final cause is simply a human desire [Spinoza] |
12497 | Causes are the substances which have the powers to produce action [Locke] |
4815 | From a definite cause an effect necessarily follows [Spinoza] |
12550 | If we knew the minute mechanics of hemlock, we could predict that it kills men [Locke] |
15966 | Boyle and Locke believed corpuscular structures necessitate their powers of interaction [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
15984 | The corpuscular hypothesis is the best explanation of the necessary connection and co-existence of powers [Locke] |
15950 | We will only understand substance when we know the necessary connections between powers and qualities [Locke] |
7713 | We identify substances by supposing that groups of sensations arise from an essence [Locke] |
12545 | Other spirits may exceed us in knowledge, by knowing the inward constitution of things [Locke] |
12484 | Motion is just change of distance between two things [Locke] |
15986 | Boyle and Locke suspect forces of being occult [Locke, by Alexander,P] |
16685 | An insurmountable force in a body keeps our hands apart when we handle it [Locke] |
15980 | We can locate the parts of the universe, but not the whole thing [Locke] |
12486 | An 'instant' is where we perceive no succession, and is the time of a single idea [Locke] |
12487 | We can never show that two successive periods of time were equal [Locke] |
12567 | It is inconceivable that unthinking matter could produce intelligence [Locke] |
7835 | The key question for Spinoza is: is his God really a God? [Stewart,M on Spinoza] |
17231 | God feels no emotions, of joy or sorrow [Spinoza] |
4823 | God does not act according to the freedom of the will [Spinoza] |
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] |
17172 | God is a substance with infinite attributes [Spinoza] |
21859 | God has no purpose, because God lacks nothing [Spinoza] |
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] |
4825 | To say that God promotes what is good is false, as it sets up a goal beyond God [Spinoza] |
12570 | The finite and dependent should obey the supreme and infinite [Locke] |
12565 | God has given us no innate idea of himself [Locke] |
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] |
12566 | We exist, so there is Being, which requires eternal being [Locke] |
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] |
12571 | If miracles aim at producing belief, it is plausible that their events are very unusual [Locke] |
12757 | That God is the substance of all things is an ill-reputed doctrine [Leibniz on Spinoza] |
17181 | God is the efficient cause of essences, as well as of existences [Spinoza] |
4829 | The human mind is part of the infinite intellect of God [Spinoza] |
17180 | Everything is in God, and nothing exists or is thinkable without God [Spinoza] |
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] |
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] |
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] |