7 ideas
7911 | Theory vanishes when one has obtained wisdom [Rahulabhadra] |
Full Idea: As the drops of dew in contact/ With the sun's rays disappear,/ So all theorizings vanish,/ Once one has obtained wisdom. | |
From: Rahulabhadra (Hymn to Perfect Wisdom [c.150], v 10) | |
A reaction: I suspect that the western view is that wisdom is good theory. This sounds like the sort of thing Wittgenstein would have said. Remarks like this encourage people to skip study, with the illusion that they can go straight to wisdom. |
20100 | Classical liberalism seeks freedom of opinion, of private life, of expression, and of property [Micklethwait/Wooldridge] |
Full Idea: The classical liberals agreed on a basic list of freedoms: of opinion (including religion), of private life, of expression, and of property | |
From: Micklethwait,J/Wooldridge,A (The Fourth Revolution [2014], 9) | |
A reaction: Mill is main articulator of this. Modern neo-liberals focus on economic freedom. Neither of them seem to make freedom of opportunity central, though I suspect our modern Liberal Party would. |
20653 | Six reduction levels: groups, lives, cells, molecules, atoms, particles [Putnam/Oppenheim, by Watson] |
Full Idea: There are six 'reductive levels' in science: social groups, (multicellular) living things, cells, molecules, atoms, and elementary particles. | |
From: report of H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim (Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis [1958]) by Peter Watson - Convergence 10 'Intro' | |
A reaction: I have the impression that fields are seen as more fundamental that elementary particles. What is the status of the 'laws' that are supposed to govern these things? What is the status of space and time within this picture? |
20097 | The welfare state aims at freedom from want, and equality of opportunity [Micklethwait/Wooldridge] |
Full Idea: In the classical liberal tradition freedom meant freedom from external control, and equality meant equality before the law. In the welfare state (of Beatrice Webb) freedom was reinterpreted as freedom from want, and equality as equality of opportunity. | |
From: Micklethwait,J/Wooldridge,A (The Fourth Revolution [2014], 3) | |
A reaction: The authors call this the 'third revolution' in government, after 17th century centralisation and early 19th century accountability. Tawney 1931 is the key text. |
20099 | For communists history is driven by the proletariat [Micklethwait/Wooldridge] |
Full Idea: For the communists the proletariat rather than the state was the locomotive of history. | |
From: Micklethwait,J/Wooldridge,A (The Fourth Revolution [2014], 3) | |
A reaction: I feel increasingly reluctant to support any party which appears to mainly represent the interests of a single social class, no matter how large that class may be. An attraction of liberalism is that it makes no reference to class. |
20098 | Fans of economic freedom claim that capitalism is self-correcting [Micklethwait/Wooldridge] |
Full Idea: The central laissez-faire conceit is that capitalism is a self-correcting mechanism. | |
From: Micklethwait,J/Wooldridge,A (The Fourth Revolution [2014], 3) | |
A reaction: This was Keynes's rather left-wing criticism of standard capitalist views. These resurfaced in the 1980s with mantras about the virtues of 'market forces'. |
20096 | Roman law entrenched property rights [Micklethwait/Wooldridge] |
Full Idea: Roman law entrenched property rights. | |
From: Micklethwait,J/Wooldridge,A (The Fourth Revolution [2014], 1 Intro) | |
A reaction: Normally attributed to Locke, so this is a good corrective. Was the principle gradually forgotten before Locke? |