118 ideas
21267 | Supposing many principles is superfluous if a few will do it [Aquinas] |
23176 | Truth is universal, but knowledge of it is not [Aquinas] |
20621 | Types of lying: Speak lies, intend lies, intend deception, aim at deceptive goal? [Aquinas, by Tuckness/Wolf] |
21248 | If the existence of truth is denied, the 'Truth does not exist' must be true! [Aquinas] |
23173 | If a syllogism admits one absurdity, others must follow [Aquinas] |
15812 | Being implies distinctness, which implies division, unity, and multitude [Aquinas] |
21268 | Non-human things are explicable naturally, and voluntary things by the will, so God is not needed [Aquinas] |
16765 | Humans only have a single substantial form, which contains the others and acts for them [Aquinas] |
23175 | The conclusions of speculative reason about necessities are certain [Aquinas] |
21337 | A knowing being possesses a further reality, the 'presence' of the thing known [Aquinas] |
21249 | Some things are self-evident to us; others are only self-evident in themselves [Aquinas] |
21250 | A proposition is self-evident if the predicate is included in the essence of the subject [Aquinas] |
20224 | Sensation prepares the way for intellectual knowledge, which needs the virtues of reason [Aquinas] |
22107 | Sensations are transmitted to 'internal senses' in the brain, chiefly to 'phantasia' and 'imagination' [Aquinas, by Kretzmann/Stump] |
9098 | Mental activity combines what we sense with imagination of what is not present [Aquinas] |
9092 | Abstracting A from B generates truth, as long as the connection is not denied [Aquinas] |
9093 | We understand the general nature of things by ignoring individual peculiarities [Aquinas] |
9097 | The mind abstracts generalities from images, but also uses images for understanding [Aquinas] |
9095 | Very general ideas (being, oneness, potentiality) can be abstracted from thought matter in general [Aquinas] |
9099 | Particular instances come first, and (pace Plato) generalisations are abstracted from them [Aquinas] |
10508 | Species are abstracted from appearances by ignoring individual conditions [Aquinas] |
22111 | Aquinas attributes freedom to decisions and judgements, and not to the will alone [Aquinas, by Kretzmann/Stump] |
22105 | The human intellectual soul is an incorporeal, subsistent principle [Aquinas] |
22108 | First grasp what it is, then its essential features; judgement is their compounding and division [Aquinas] |
10503 | We abstract forms from appearances, and acquire knowledge of immaterial things [Aquinas] |
10509 | Understanding consists entirely of grasping abstracted species [Aquinas] |
10506 | Mathematics can be abstracted from sensible matter, and from individual intelligible matter [Aquinas] |
9094 | Mathematical objects abstract both from perceived matter, and from particular substance [Aquinas] |
10505 | We can just think of an apple's colour, because the apple is not part of the colour's nature [Aquinas] |
10504 | Abstracting either treats something as separate, or thinks of it separately [Aquinas] |
10507 | Numbers and shapes are abstracted by ignoring their sensible qualities [Aquinas] |
9096 | The mind must produce by its own power an image of the individual species [Aquinas] |
23180 | The will is the rational appetite [Aquinas] |
22112 | For humans good is accordance with reason, and bad is contrary to reason [Aquinas] |
19956 | True goodness is political, and consists of love of and submission to the laws [Montesquieu] |
22494 | We must know the end, know that it is the end, and know how to attain it [Aquinas] |
23181 | All acts of virtue relate to justice, which is directed towards the common good [Aquinas] |
8009 | Aquinas wanted, not to escape desire, but to transform it for moral ends [Aquinas, by MacIntyre] |
23182 | Legal justice is supreme, because it directs the other virtues to the common good [Aquinas] |
7903 | The six perfections are giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, and wisdom [Nagarjuna] |
22399 | Temperance prevents our passions from acting against reason [Aquinas] |
23177 | Justice directs our relations with others, because it denotes a kind of equality [Aquinas] |
19962 | Men do not desire to subjugate one another; domination is a complex and advanced idea [Montesquieu] |
19961 | Primitive people would be too vulnerable and timid to attack anyone, so peace would reign [Montesquieu] |
19963 | People are drawn into society by needs, shared fears, pleasure, and knowledge [Montesquieu] |
20008 | People are guided by a multitude of influences, from which the spirit of a nation emerges [Montesquieu] |
19993 | In small republics citizens identify with the public good, and abuses are fewer [Montesquieu] |
19992 | In a large republic there is too much wealth for individuals to manage it [Montesquieu] |
20005 | The rich would never submit to a lottery deciding which part of their society should be slaves [Montesquieu] |
19995 | All states aim at preservation, and then have distinctive individual purposes [Montesquieu] |
19964 | The natural power of a father suggests rule by one person, but that authority can be spread [Montesquieu] |
19972 | The nobility are an indispensable part of a monarchy [Montesquieu] |
19974 | Monarchs must not just have links to the people; they need a body which maintains the laws [Montesquieu] |
19976 | Ambition is good in a monarchy, because the monarch can always restrain it [Montesquieu] |
19978 | In monarchies, men's actions are judged by their grand appearance, not their virtues [Montesquieu] |
19985 | In a monarchy, the nobility must be hereditary, to bind them together [Montesquieu] |
19986 | Monarchies can act more quickly, because one person is in charge [Montesquieu] |
19988 | A despot's agents must be given power, so they inevitably become corrupt [Montesquieu] |
19975 | Despots are always lazy and ignorant, so they always delegate their power to a vizier [Montesquieu] |
19977 | Despotism and honour are incompatible, because honour scorns his power, and lives by rules [Montesquieu] |
20007 | Tyranny is either real violence, or the imposition of unpopular legislation [Montesquieu] |
19989 | The will of a despot is an enigma, so magistrates can only follow their own will [Montesquieu] |
19970 | If the nobility is numerous, the senate is the artistocracy, and the nobles are a democracy [Montesquieu] |
19971 | Aristocracy is democratic if they resemble the people, but not if they resemble the monarch [Montesquieu] |
19984 | Great inequality between aristocrats and the rest is bad - and also among aristocrats themselves [Montesquieu] |
19980 | If a government is to be preserved, it must first be loved [Montesquieu] |
19996 | A government has a legislature, an international executive, and a domestic executive [Montesquieu] |
19997 | The judiciary must be separate from the legislature, to avoid arbitrary power [Montesquieu] |
19965 | The fundamental laws of a democracy decide who can vote [Montesquieu] |
19968 | It is basic to a democracy that the people themselves must name their ministers [Montesquieu] |
19969 | Voting should be public, so the lower classes can be influenced by the example of notable people [Montesquieu] |
19999 | All citizens (apart from the very humble poor) should choose their representatives [Montesquieu] |
19967 | In a democracy the people should manage themselves, and only delegate what they can't do [Montesquieu] |
19966 | A democratic assembly must have a fixed number, to see whether everyone has spoken [Montesquieu] |
19998 | If deputies represent people, they are accountable, but less so if they represent places [Montesquieu] |
20000 | Slavery is entirely bad; the master abandons the virtues, and they are pointless in the slave [Montesquieu] |
20003 | Slaves are not members of the society, so no law can forbid them to run away [Montesquieu] |
20006 | The demand for slavery is just the masters' demand for luxury [Montesquieu] |
20009 | Freedom of speech and writing, within the law, is essential to preserve liberty [Montesquieu] |
19994 | Freedom in society is ability to do what is right, and not having to do what is wrong [Montesquieu] |
19981 | No one even thinks of equality in monarchies and despotism; they all want superiority [Montesquieu] |
19991 | Equality is not command by everyone or no one, but command and obedience among equals [Montesquieu] |
19990 | Democracy is corrupted by lack of equality, or by extreme equality (between rulers and ruled) [Montesquieu] |
19982 | Some equality can be achieved by social categories, combined with taxes and poor relief [Montesquieu] |
19983 | Democracies may sometimes need to restrict equality [Montesquieu] |
23179 | People differ in their social degrees, and a particular type of right applies to each [Aquinas] |
22114 | Tyrannical laws are irrational, and so not really laws [Aquinas] |
23174 | Natural law is a rational creature's participation in eternal law [Aquinas] |
22113 | Right and wrong actions pertain to natural law, as perceived by practical reason [Aquinas] |
19959 | Prior to positive laws there is natural equity, of obedience, gratitude, dependence and merit [Montesquieu] |
19960 | Sensation gives animals natural laws, but knowledge can make them break them [Montesquieu] |
20002 | The death penalty is permissible, because its victims enjoyed the protection of that law [Montesquieu] |
20010 | If religion teaches determinism, penalties must be severe; if free will, then that is different [Montesquieu] |
7291 | For Aquinas a war must be in a just cause, have proper authority, and aim at good [Aquinas, by Grayling] |
20001 | The only right victors have over captives is the protection of the former [Montesquieu] |
19973 | The clergy are essential to a monarchy, but dangerous in a republic [Montesquieu] |
20011 | Religion can support the state when the law fails to do so [Montesquieu] |
19987 | Religion has the most influence in despotic states, and reinforces veneration for the ruler [Montesquieu] |
20004 | French slavery was accepted because it was the best method of religious conversion [Montesquieu] |
19979 | In monarchies education ennobles people, and in despotisms it debases them [Montesquieu] |
19957 | Teaching is the best practice of the general virtue that leads us to love everyone [Montesquieu] |
5508 | Aquinas says a fertilized egg is not human, and has no immortal soul [Aquinas, by Martin/Barresi] |
16687 | Bodies are three-dimensional substances [Aquinas] |
19958 | Laws are the necessary relations that derive from the nature of things [Montesquieu] |
23178 | Divine law commands some things because they are good, while others are good because commanded [Aquinas] |
21251 | We can't know God's essence, so his existence can't be self-evident for us [Aquinas] |
5614 | If you assume that there must be a necessary being, you can't say which being has this quality [Kant on Aquinas] |
21269 | Way 1: the infinite chain of potential-to-actual movement has to have a first mover [Aquinas] |
21270 | Way 2: no effect without a cause, and this cannot go back to infinity, so there is First Cause [Aquinas] |
21271 | Way 3: contingent beings eventually vanish, so continuity needs a necessary being [Aquinas] |
21272 | Way 4: the source of all qualities is their maximum, so something (God) causes all perfections [Aquinas] |
21273 | Way 5: mindless things act towards an obvious end, so there is an intelligent director [Aquinas] |
20211 | Life aims at the Beatific Vision - of perfect happiness, and revealed truth [Aquinas, by Zagzebski] |
22106 | Aquinas saw angels as separated forms, rather than as made of 'spiritual matter' [Aquinas, by Kretzmann/Stump] |
23306 | Humans have a non-physical faculty of reason, so they can be immortal [Aquinas, by Sorabji] |
4412 | Those in bliss have their happiness increased by seeing the damned punished [Aquinas] |
21266 | God does not exist, because He is infinite and good, and so no evil should be discoverable [Aquinas] |
21274 | It is part of God's supreme goodness that He brings good even out of evil [Aquinas] |