146 ideas
19735 | Wisdom has a higher value than understanding, which has a higher value than knowledge [Greco] |
18330 | Judging by the positive forces, the Renaissance was the last great age [Nietzsche] |
2900 | I revere Heraclitus [Nietzsche] |
2913 | Thucydides was the perfect anti-platonist sophist [Nietzsche] |
2909 | Thinking has to be learned in the way dancing has to be learned [Nietzsche] |
2892 | Wanting a system in philosophy is a lack of integrity [Nietzsche] |
5082 | Reason grasps generalities, while the senses grasp particulars [Aristotle] |
2896 | I want to understand the Socratic idea that 'reason equals virtue equals happiness' [Nietzsche] |
2897 | With dialectics the rabble gets on top [Nietzsche] |
2898 | Anything which must first be proved is of little value [Nietzsche] |
13270 | Are a part and whole one or many? Either way, what is the cause? [Aristotle] |
9790 | Geometry studies naturally occurring lines, but not as they occur in nature [Aristotle] |
22962 | Two is the least number, but there is no least magnitude, because it is always divisible [Aristotle] |
18090 | Without infinity time has limits, magnitudes are indivisible, and numbers come to an end [Aristotle] |
22929 | Aristotle's infinity is a property of the counting process, that it has no natural limit [Aristotle, by Le Poidevin] |
22930 | Lengths do not contain infinite parts; parts are created by acts of division [Aristotle, by Le Poidevin] |
18833 | A continuous line cannot be composed of indivisible points [Aristotle] |
9974 | Ten sheep and ten dogs are the same numerically, but it is not the same ten [Aristotle] |
18317 | The 'real being' of things is a nothingness constructed from contradictions in the actual world [Nietzsche] |
18315 | We get the concept of 'being' from the concept of the 'ego' [Nietzsche] |
5105 | The incommensurability of the diagonal always exists, and so it is not in time [Aristotle] |
16115 | Change is the implied actuality of that which exists potentially [Aristotle] |
22960 | The sophists thought a man in the Lyceum is different from that man in the marketplace [Aristotle] |
17262 | Aristotle's formal and material 'becauses' [aitiai] arguably involve grounding [Aristotle, by Correia/Schnieder] |
18316 | The grounds for an assertion that the world is only apparent actually establish its reality [Nietzsche] |
16656 | The separation from here to there is not the same as the separation from there to here [Aristotle] |
16644 | The features of a thing (whether quality or quantity) are inseparable from their subjects [Aristotle] |
5117 | Heavy and light are defined by their tendency to move down or up [Aristotle] |
18314 | In language we treat 'ego' as a substance, and it is thus that we create the concept 'thing' [Nietzsche] |
17041 | Natural objects include animals and their parts, plants, and the simple elements [Aristotle] |
16172 | Substance is not predicated of anything - but it still has something underlying it, that originates it [Aristotle] |
16623 | We only infer underlying natures by analogy, observing bronze of a statue, or wood of a bed [Aristotle] |
16174 | A nature is related to a substance as shapeless matter is to something which has a shape [Aristotle] |
17043 | Form, not matter, is a thing's nature, because it is actual, rather than potential [Aristotle] |
16970 | A thing's form and purpose are often the same, and form can be the initiator of change too [Aristotle] |
16104 | Unity of the form is just unity of the definition [Aristotle] |
11255 | In feature-generation the matter (such as bronze) endures, but in generation it doesn't [Aristotle, by Politis] |
9071 | We first sense whole entities, and then move to particular parts of it [Aristotle] |
16791 | There is no whole except for the parts [Aristotle] |
16972 | The four explanations are the main aspects of a thing's nature [Aristotle, by Moravcsik] |
5084 | A thing's nature is what causes its changes and stability [Aristotle] |
16173 | Coming to be is by shape-change, addition, subtraction, composition or alteration [Aristotle] |
17042 | Natural things are their own source of stability through change [Aristotle] |
16691 | A day, or the games, has one thing after another, actually and potentially occurring [Aristotle] |
16574 | Coming-to-be may be from nothing in a qualified way, as arising from an absence [Aristotle] |
11254 | Matter is potentiality [Aristotle, by Politis] |
13110 | Intrinsic cause is prior to coincidence, so nature and intelligence are primary causes, chance secondary [Aristotle] |
13108 | Chance is a coincidental cause among events involving purpose and choice [Aristotle] |
13106 | Maybe there is no pure chance; a man's choices cause his chance meetings [Aristotle] |
18309 | The evidence of the senses is falsified by reason [Nietzsche] |
8331 | To know something we need understanding, which is grasp of the primary cause [Aristotle] |
19734 | If value is practical, knowledge is no better than true opinion [Greco] |
19733 | Externalist theories don't explain why knowledge has value [Greco] |
5080 | We know a thing if we grasp its first causes, principles and basic elements [Aristotle] |
16969 | Science refers the question Why? to four causes/explanations: matter, form, source, purpose [Aristotle] |
11250 | Four Explanations: the essence and form; the matter; the source; and the end [Aristotle, by Politis] |
12045 | Aristotle's four 'causes' are four items which figure in basic explanations of nature [Aristotle, by Annas] |
16968 | There are as many causes/explanations as there are different types of why-question [Aristotle] |
13109 | Chance is inexplicable, because we can only explain what happens always or usually [Aristotle] |
18323 | Any explanation will be accepted as true if it gives pleasure and a feeling of power [Nietzsche] |
18310 | The 'highest' concepts are the most general and empty concepts [Nietzsche] |
20368 | There are no 'individual' persons; we are each the sum of humanity up to this moment [Nietzsche] |
2899 | The fanatical rationality of Greek philosophy shows that they were in a state of emergency [Nietzsche] |
9789 | You can't abstract natural properties to make Forms - objects and attributes are defined together [Aristotle] |
9788 | Mathematicians study what is conceptually separable, and doesn't lead to error [Aristotle] |
5107 | Predicates are substance, quality, place, relation, quantity and action or affection [Aristotle] |
18313 | The big error is to think the will is a faculty producing effects; in fact, it is just a word [Nietzsche] |
20133 | The 'motive' is superficial, and may even hide the antecedents of a deed [Nietzsche] |
20042 | We assign the cause of someone's walking when we say why they are doing it [Aristotle] |
18326 | The beautiful never stands alone; it derives from man's pleasure in man [Nietzsche] |
20101 | Without music life would be a mistake [Nietzsche] |
2902 | Healthy morality is dominated by an instinct for life [Nietzsche] |
18311 | Philosophers hate values having an origin, and want values to be self-sufficient [Nietzsche] |
18324 | There are no moral facts, and moralists believe in realities which do not exist [Nietzsche] |
2904 | The doctrine of free will has been invented essentially in order to blame and punish people [Nietzsche] |
18321 | To evaluate life one must know it, but also be situated outside of it [Nietzsche] |
2893 | In every age the wisest people have judged life to be worthless [Nietzsche] |
2894 | Value judgements about life can never be true [Nietzsche] |
18322 | When we establish values, that is life itself establishing them, through us [Nietzsche] |
18308 | A philosopher fails in wisdom if he thinks the value of life is a problem [Nietzsche] |
2895 | The value of life cannot be estimated [Nietzsche] |
18319 | Love is the spiritualisation of sensuality [Nietzsche] |
5110 | Goodness is when a thing (such as a circle) is complete, and conforms with its nature [Aristotle] |
2903 | A good human will be virtuous because they are happy [Nietzsche] |
2891 | Only the English actually strive after happiness [Nietzsche] |
18327 | A wholly altruistic morality, with no egoism, is a thoroughly bad thing [Nietzsche] |
5111 | All moral virtue is concerned with bodily pleasure and pain [Aristotle] |
15606 | Military idea: what does not kill me makes me stronger [Nietzsche] |
18328 | Invalids are parasites [Nietzsche] |
18331 | Democracy is organisational power in decline [Nietzsche] |
18332 | The creation of institutions needs a determination which is necessarily anti-liberal [Nietzsche] |
2911 | True justice is equality for equals and inequality for unequals [Nietzsche] |
18320 | To renounce war is to renounce the grand life [Nietzsche] |
2908 | There is a need for educators who are themselves educated [Nietzsche] |
18329 | Sometimes it is an error to have been born - but we can rectify it [Nietzsche] |
5085 | 'Nature' refers to two things - form and matter [Aristotle] |
5092 | Nature is a principle of change, so we must understand change first [Aristotle] |
5113 | Nothing natural is disorderly, because nature is responsible for all order [Aristotle] |
5089 | Nature has purpose, and aims at what is better. Is it coincidence that crops grow when it rains? [Aristotle] |
5086 | The nature of a thing is its end and purpose [Aristotle] |
5087 | A thing's purpose is ambiguous, and from one point of view we ourselves are ends [Aristotle] |
5091 | Teeth and crops are predictable, so they cannot be mere chance, but must have a purpose [Aristotle] |
2905 | 'Purpose' is just a human fiction [Nietzsche] |
5108 | Is ceasing-to-be unnatural if it happens by force, and natural otherwise? [Aristotle] |
5095 | The heavens seem to be infinite, because we cannot imagine their end [Aristotle] |
5093 | Continuity depends on infinity, because the continuous is infinitely divisible [Aristotle] |
16762 | Matter desires form, as female desires male, and ugliness desires beauty [Aristotle] |
17464 | When Aristotle's elements compound they are stable, so why would they ever separate? [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry on Aristotle] |
11252 | The 'form' of a thing explains why the matter constitutes that particular thing [Aristotle, by Politis] |
11253 | A 'material' cause/explanation is the form of whatever is the source [Aristotle, by Politis] |
13107 | Causes produce a few things in their own right, and innumerable things coincidentally [Aristotle] |
8332 | The four causes are the material, the form, the source, and the end [Aristotle] |
9787 | Scientists must know the essential attributes of the things they study [Aristotle] |
20063 | Motion fulfils potentiality [Aristotle] |
5114 | If movement can arise within an animal, why can't it also arise in the universe? [Aristotle] |
5116 | When there is unnatural movement (e.g. fire going downwards) the cause is obvious [Aristotle] |
5099 | The universe as a whole is not anywhere [Aristotle] |
5097 | If everything has a place, this causes an infinite regress, because each place must have place [Aristotle] |
5098 | Place is not shape, or matter, or extension between limits; it is the limits of a body [Aristotle] |
20920 | If there were many cosmoses, each would have its own time, giving many times [Aristotle] |
5106 | Would there be time if there were no mind? [Aristotle] |
22967 | It is unclear whether time depends on the existence of soul [Aristotle] |
8590 | Time does not exist without change [Aristotle] |
22965 | Time measures rest, as well as change [Aristotle] |
22885 | For Aristotle time is not a process but a means for measuring processes [Aristotle, by Bardon] |
22959 | Time is not change, but the number we associate with change [Aristotle] |
22964 | Change only exists in time through its being temporally measure [Aristotle] |
5104 | Time is an aspect of change [Aristotle] |
22956 | How can time exist, when it is composed of what has ceased to be and is yet to be? [Aristotle] |
5102 | If all of time has either ceased to exist, or has not yet happened, maybe time does not exist [Aristotle] |
5103 | Time is not change, but requires change in our minds to be noticed [Aristotle] |
22961 | The present moment is obviously a necessary feature of time [Aristotle] |
22916 | Unlike time, change goes at different rates, and is usually localised [Aristotle, by Le Poidevin] |
16693 | Time has parts, but the now is not one of them, and time is not composed of nows [Aristotle] |
22958 | Nows can't be linked together, any more than points on a line [Aristotle] |
22968 | Circular motion is the most obvious measure of time, and especially the celestial sphere [Aristotle] |
22963 | We measure change by time, and time by change, as they are interdefined [Aristotle] |
22966 | The present moment is a link (of past to future), and also a limit (of past and of future) [Aristotle] |
22957 | We can't tell whether the changing present moment is one thing, or a succession of things [Aristotle] |
5083 | Do things come to be from what is, or from what is not? Both seem problematical. [Aristotle] |
5119 | The source of all movement must be indivisible and have no magnitude [Aristotle] |
18312 | The supreme general but empty concepts must be compatible, and hence we get 'God' [Nietzsche] |
2906 | By denying God we deny human accountability, and thus we redeem the world [Nietzsche] |
2901 | How could the Church intelligently fight against passion if it preferred poorness of spirit to intelligence? [Nietzsche] |
18325 | Christians believe that only God can know what is good for man [Nietzsche] |
18318 | People who disparage actual life avenge themselves by imagining a better one [Nietzsche] |