Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Straw Dogs' and 'The Conquest of Happiness'

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15 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
Human knowledge may not produce well-being; the examined life may not be worth living [Gray]
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / d. Non-being
Not-Being obviously doesn't exist, and the five modes of Being are all impossible [Gorgias, by Diog. Laertius]
13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 9. Naturalised Epistemology
Knowledge does not need minds or nervous systems; it is found in all living things [Gray]
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
The will hardly ever does anything; most of our life just happens to us [Gray]
19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric
Destroy seriousness with laughter, and laughter with seriousness [Gorgias]
Gorgias says rhetoric is the best of arts, because it enslaves without using force [Gorgias, by Plato]
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness
A happy and joyous life must largely be a quiet life [Russell]
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
Boredom always involves not being fully occupied [Russell]
Happiness involves enduring boredom, and the young should be taught this [Russell]
Boredom is an increasingly strong motivating power [Russell]
Life is now more interesting, but boredom is more frightening [Russell]
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 5. Freedom of lifestyle
Nowadays we identify the free life with the good life [Gray]
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 4. Ecology
Over forty percent of the Earth's living tissue is human [Gray]
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / a. Christianity
Without Christianity we lose the idea that human history has a meaning [Gray]
What was our original sin, and how could Christ's suffering redeem it? [Gray]