25 ideas
1597 | Thales was the first western thinker to believe the arché was intelligible [Roochnik on Thales] |
21495 | Theoretical and practical politics are both concerned with the best lives for individuals [Russell] |
21642 | If quantification is all substitutional, there is no ontology [Quine] |
1633 | Absolute ontological questions are meaningless, because the answers are circular definitions [Quine] |
18964 | Ontology is relative to both a background theory and a translation manual [Quine] |
18965 | We know what things are by distinguishing them, so identity is part of ontology [Quine] |
3013 | Nothing is stronger than necessity, which rules everything [Thales, by Diog. Laertius] |
1634 | Two things are relative - the background theory, and translating the object theory into the background theory [Quine] |
8470 | Reference is inscrutable, because we cannot choose between theories of numbers [Quine, by Orenstein] |
18963 | Indeterminacy translating 'rabbit' depends on translating individuation terms [Quine] |
21517 | Individuals need creativity, reverence for others, and self-respect [Russell] |
21522 | Democracy is inadequate without a great deal of devolution [Russell] |
21523 | We would not want UK affairs to be settled by a world parliament [Russell] |
21521 | Anarchy does not maximise liberty [Russell] |
21528 | Groups should be autonomous, with a neutral authority as arbitrator [Russell] |
21526 | Unfortunately ordinary voters can't detect insincerity [Russell] |
21527 | On every new question the majority is always wrong at first [Russell] |
21525 | When the state is the only employer, there is no refuge from the prejudices of other people [Russell] |
21518 | Men unite in pursuit of material things, and idealise greed as part of group loyalty [Russell] |
21519 | We need security and liberty, and then encouragement of creativity [Russell] |
21524 | The right to own land gives a legal right to a permanent income [Russell] |
1494 | Thales said water is the first principle, perhaps from observing that food is moist [Thales, by Aristotle] |
1713 | Thales must have thought soul causes movement, since he thought magnets have soul [Thales, by Aristotle] |
1742 | Thales said the gods know our wrong thoughts as well as our evil actions [Thales, by Diog. Laertius] |
21520 | That our heaven is a dull place reflects the misery of excessive work in life [Russell] |