149 ideas
9199 | Wisdom for one instant is as good as wisdom for eternity [Chrysippus] |
20853 | Wise men should try to participate in politics, since they are a good influence [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
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] |
20772 | Three branches of philosophy: first logic, second ethics, third physics (which ends with theology) [Chrysippus] |
2892 | Wanting a system in philosophy is a lack of integrity [Nietzsche] |
2896 | I want to understand the Socratic idea that 'reason equals virtue equals happiness' [Nietzsche] |
5969 | Chrysippus said the uncaused is non-existent [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
2897 | With dialectics the rabble gets on top [Nietzsche] |
2898 | Anything which must first be proved is of little value [Nietzsche] |
21388 | The causes of future true events must exist now, so they will happen because of destiny [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
20780 | Graspable presentations are criteria of facts, and are molded according to their objects [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20793 | How could you ever know that the presentation is similar to the object? [Sext.Empiricus on Chrysippus] |
8077 | Stoic propositional logic is like chemistry - how atoms make molecules, not the innards of atoms [Chrysippus, by Devlin] |
20791 | Chrysippus has five obvious 'indemonstrables' of reasoning [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
8078 | Modus ponens is one of five inference rules identified by the Stoics [Chrysippus, by Devlin] |
6023 | Every proposition is either true or false [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
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] |
5992 | Chrysippus says action is the criterion for existence, which must be physical [Chrysippus, by Tieleman] |
18316 | The grounds for an assertion that the world is only apparent actually establish its reality [Nietzsche] |
21673 | There are simple and complex facts; the latter depend on further facts [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
16652 | Stoics categories are Substrate, Quality, Disposition, and Relation [Chrysippus, by Pasnau] |
18314 | In language we treat 'ego' as a substance, and it is thus that we create the concept 'thing' [Nietzsche] |
16058 | Dion and Theon coexist, but Theon lacks a foot. If Dion loses a foot, he ousts Theon? [Chrysippus, by Philo of Alexandria] |
16059 | Change of matter doesn't destroy identity - in Dion and Theon change is a condition of identity [Chrysippus, by Long/Sedley] |
5937 | The goodness of opinions depends on their grounds, and corresponding degrees of conviction [Ross] |
5936 | Knowledge is superior to opinion because it is certain [Ross] |
18309 | The evidence of the senses is falsified by reason [Nietzsche] |
5927 | I prefer the causal theory to sense data, because sensations are events, not apprehensions [Ross] |
5940 | Two goods may be comparable, although they are not commensurable [Ross] |
18323 | Any explanation will be accepted as true if it gives pleasure and a feeling of power [Nietzsche] |
1875 | Dogs show reason in decisions made by elimination [Chrysippus, by Sext.Empiricus] |
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] |
20834 | Chrysippus allows evil to say it is fated, or even that it is rational and natural [Plutarch on Chrysippus] |
20833 | A swerve in the atoms would be unnatural, like scales settling differently for no reason [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
20808 | Everything is fated, either by continuous causes or by a supreme rational principle [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20835 | Chrysippus is wrong to believe in non-occurring future possibilities if he is a fatalist [Plutarch on Chrysippus] |
20836 | The Lazy Argument responds to fate with 'why bother?', but the bothering is also fated [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
20837 | Fate is an eternal and fixed chain of causal events [Chrysippus] |
21679 | When we say events are fated by antecedent causes, do we mean principal or auxiliary causes? [Chrysippus] |
5971 | Destiny is only a predisposing cause, not a sufficient cause [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
5924 | Identical objects must have identical value [Ross] |
2899 | The fanatical rationality of Greek philosophy shows that they were in a state of emergency [Nietzsche] |
20787 | A proposition is what can be asserted or denied on its own [Chrysippus] |
18313 | The big error is to think the will is a faculty producing effects; in fact, it is just a word [Nietzsche] |
20850 | Passions are judgements; greed thinks money is honorable, and likewise drinking and lust [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20133 | The 'motive' is superficial, and may even hide the antecedents of a deed [Nietzsche] |
20869 | The highest degree of morality performs all that is appropriate, omitting nothing [Chrysippus] |
5933 | Aesthetic enjoyment combines pleasure with insight [Ross] |
5928 | Beauty is neither objective nor subjective, but a power of producing certain mental events [Ross] |
18326 | The beautiful never stands alone; it derives from man's pleasure in man [Nietzsche] |
20101 | Without music life would be a mistake [Nietzsche] |
3044 | Stoics say that beauty and goodness are equivalent and linked [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
2902 | Healthy morality is dominated by an instinct for life [Nietzsche] |
5911 | Moral duties are as fundamental to the universe as the axioms of mathematics [Ross] |
5926 | The beauty of a patch of colour might be the most important fact about it [Ross] |
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] |
20838 | Fate initiates general causes, but individual wills and characters dictate what we do [Chrysippus] |
7259 | Ross said moral principles are self-evident from the facts, but not from pure thought [Ross, by Dancy,J] |
5913 | The moral convictions of thoughtful educated people are the raw data of ethics [Ross] |
20813 | Human purpose is to contemplate and imitate the cosmos [Chrysippus] |
3045 | Stoics say justice is a part of nature, not just an invented principle [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20774 | Only nature is available to guide action and virtue [Chrysippus] |
5920 | Value is held to be either a quality, or a relation (usually between a thing and a mind) [Ross] |
5923 | The arguments for value being an objective or a relation fail, so it appears to be a quality [Ross] |
5918 | The thing is intrinsically good if it would be good when nothing else existed [Ross] |
5930 | All things being equal, we all prefer the virtuous to be happy, not the vicious [Ross] |
5922 | An instrumentally good thing might stay the same, but change its value because of circumstances [Ross] |
20864 | Live in agreement, according to experience of natural events [Chrysippus] |
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] |
18308 | A philosopher fails in wisdom if he thinks the value of life is a problem [Nietzsche] |
18322 | When we establish values, that is life itself establishing them, through us [Nietzsche] |
2895 | The value of life cannot be estimated [Nietzsche] |
18319 | Love is the spiritualisation of sensuality [Nietzsche] |
5921 | We can ask of pleasure or beauty whether they are valuable, but not of goodness [Ross] |
5910 | The three intrinsic goods are virtue, knowledge and pleasure [Ross] |
5932 | The four goods are: virtue, pleasure, just allocation of pleasure, and knowledge [Ross] |
5898 | 'Right' and 'good' differ in meaning, as in a 'right action' and a 'good man' [Ross] |
5899 | If there are two equally good acts, they may both be right, but neither a duty [Ross] |
5904 | In the past 'right' just meant what is conventionally accepted [Ross] |
5919 | Goodness is a wider concept than just correct ethical conduct [Ross] |
5941 | Motives decide whether an action is good, and what is done decides whether it was right [Ross] |
5972 | Living happily is nothing but living virtuously [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
2903 | A good human will be virtuous because they are happy [Nietzsche] |
5938 | Virtue is superior to pleasure, as pleasure is never a duty, but goodness is [Ross] |
5931 | All other things being equal, a universe with more understanding is better [Ross] |
5939 | Morality is not entirely social; a good moral character should love truth [Ross] |
1777 | Pleasure is not the good, because there are disgraceful pleasures [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5973 | Justice can be preserved if pleasure is a good, but not if it is the goal [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
2891 | Only the English actually strive after happiness [Nietzsche] |
20845 | There are shameful pleasures, and nothing shameful is good, so pleasure is not a good [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5905 | We clearly value good character or understanding, as well as pleasure [Ross] |
5929 | No one thinks it doesn't matter whether pleasure is virtuously or viciously acquired [Ross] |
18327 | A wholly altruistic morality, with no egoism, is a thoroughly bad thing [Nietzsche] |
5967 | People need nothing except corn and water [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
5906 | Promise-keeping is bound by the past, and is not concerned with consequences [Ross] |
18622 | Promises create a new duty to a particular person; they aren't just a strategy to achieve well-being [Ross] |
5966 | All virtue is good, but not always praised (as in not lusting after someone ugly) [Chrysippus] |
20855 | Chrysippus says virtue can be lost (though Cleanthes says it is too secure for that) [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5970 | Chrysippus says nothing is blameworthy, as everything conforms with the best nature [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
5908 | Prima facie duties rest self-evidently on particular circumstance [Ross] |
15606 | Military idea: what does not kill me makes me stronger [Nietzsche] |
18328 | Invalids are parasites [Nietzsche] |
5917 | People lose their rights if they do not respect the rights of others [Ross] |
5900 | We should do our duty, but not from a sense of duty [Ross] |
5909 | Be faithful, grateful, just, beneficent, non-malevolent, and improve yourself [Ross, by PG] |
5942 | We like people who act from love, but admire more the people who act from duty [Ross] |
5914 | An act may be described in innumerable ways [Ross] |
5912 | We should use money to pay debts before giving to charity [Ross] |
20842 | Rational animals begin uncorrupted, but externals and companions are bad influences [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
18331 | Democracy is organisational power in decline [Nietzsche] |
18332 | The creation of institutions needs a determination which is necessarily anti-liberal [Nietzsche] |
5916 | Rights were originally legal, and broadened to include other things [Ross] |
2911 | True justice is equality for equals and inequality for unequals [Nietzsche] |
20856 | Justice, the law, and right reason are natural and not conventional [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
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] |
1779 | We don't have obligations to animals as they aren't like us [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20857 | Justice is irrelevant to animals, because they are too unlike us [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5915 | Rights can be justly claimed, so animals have no rights, as they cannot claim any [Ross] |
20812 | Covers are for shields, and sheaths for swords; likewise, all in the cosmos is for some other thing [Chrysippus] |
2905 | 'Purpose' is just a human fiction [Nietzsche] |
21403 | The later Stoics identified the logos with an air-fire compound, called 'pneuma' [Chrysippus, by Long] |
20828 | Fire is a separate element, not formed with others (as was previously believed) [Chrysippus, by Stobaeus] |
5975 | Stoics say earth, air, fire and water are the primary elements [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
20819 | The past and the future subsist, but only the present exists [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
20818 | The present does not exist, so our immediate experience is actually part past and part future [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
20821 | Time is continous and infinitely divisible, so there cannot be a wholly present time [Chrysippus, by Stobaeus] |
3048 | Stoics say that God the creator is the perfection of all animals [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20773 | The origin of justice can only be in Zeus, and in nature [Chrysippus] |
3042 | Stoics teach that law is identical with right reason, which is the will of Zeus [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5965 | The source of all justice is Zeus and the universal nature [Chrysippus] |
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] |
1782 | Stoics teach that God is a unity, variously known as Mind, or Fate, or Jupiter [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
18325 | Christians believe that only God can know what is good for man [Nietzsche] |
2901 | How could the Church intelligently fight against passion if it preferred poorness of spirit to intelligence? [Nietzsche] |
20830 | Death can't separate soul from body, because incorporeal soul can't unite with body [Chrysippus] |
18318 | People who disparage actual life avenge themselves by imagining a better one [Nietzsche] |
21404 | There is a rationale in terrible disasters; they are useful to the whole, and make good possible [Chrysippus] |