134 ideas
9247 | Life will be lived better if it has no meaning [Camus] |
23889 | Among the Greeks Aristotle is the only philosopher in the modern style [Weil] |
23881 | All thought about values is philosophical, and thought about anything else is not philosophy [Weil] |
6707 | Suicide - whether life is worth living - is the one serious philosophical problem [Camus] |
23885 | Philosophy aims to change the soul, not to accumulate knowledge [Weil] |
9245 | To an absurd mind reason is useless, and there is nothing beyond reason [Camus] |
23886 | Systems are not unique to each philosopher. The platonist tradition is old and continuous [Weil] |
23884 | Truth is a value of thought [Weil] |
23755 | Genius and love of truth are always accompanied by great humility [Weil] |
23877 | Most people won't question an idea's truth if they depend on it [Weil] |
23825 | We seek truth only because it is good [Weil] |
23853 | Truth is not a object we love - it is the radiant manifestation of reality [Weil] |
9244 | Logic is easy, but what about logic to the point of death? [Camus] |
23855 | Creation produced a network or web of determinations [Weil] |
23900 | Chance is compatible with necessity, and the two occur together [Weil] |
23888 | Knowledge is beyond question, as an unavoidable component of thinking [Weil] |
23747 | What is sacred is not a person, but the whole physical human being [Weil] |
9249 | Whether we are free is uninteresting; we can only experience our freedom [Camus] |
9253 | The human heart has a tiresome tendency to label as fate only what crushes it [Camus] |
23756 | The mind is imprisoned and limited by language, restricting our awareness of wider thoughts [Weil] |
23878 | Weakness of will is the inadequacy of the original impetus to carry through the action [Weil] |
23899 | The secret of art is that beauty is a just blend of unity and its opposite [Weil] |
23832 | We both desire what is beautiful, and want it to remain as it is [Weil] |
23848 | The aesthete's treatment of beauty as amusement is sacreligious; beauty should nourish [Weil] |
23758 | Beauty is an attractive mystery, leaving nothing to be desired [Weil] |
23887 | Art (like philosophy) establishes a relation between world and self, and between oneself and others [Weil] |
23903 | When we admire a work, we see ourselves as its creator [Weil] |
23898 | Those who say immorality is not an aesthetic criterion must show that all criteria are aesthetic [Weil] |
8239 | If the King likes music then there is hope for the state [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
9250 | Discussing ethics is pointless; moral people behave badly, and integrity doesn't need rules [Camus] |
23814 | Every human yearns for an unattainable transcendent good [Weil] |
23826 | Beauty, goodness and truth are only achieved by applying full attention [Weil] |
23854 | Beauty is the proof of what is good [Weil] |
23824 | Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty [Weil] |
23398 | Human nature is naturally compassionate and good (as a 'sprout'), but people may not be good [Mengzi (Mencius), by Norden] |
23879 | In a violent moral disagreement, it can't be that both sides are just following social morality [Weil] |
23882 | Ends, unlike means, cannot be defined, which is why people tend to pursue means [Weil] |
23400 | Righteousness is extending the unthinkable, to reveal what must be done [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
23760 | All we need are the unity of justice, truth and beauty [Weil] |
23883 | Minds essentially and always strive towards value [Weil] |
23748 | The sacred in every human is their expectation of good rather than evil [Weil] |
23759 | Everything which originates in love is beautiful [Weil] |
9252 | The more one loves the stronger the absurd grows [Camus] |
23762 | Evil is transmitted by comforts and pleasures, but mostly by doing harm to people [Weil] |
23808 | There are two goods - the absolute good we want, and the reachable opposite of evil [Weil] |
23833 | The good is a nothingness, and yet real [Weil] |
23865 | Morality would improve if people could pursue private interests [Weil] |
9251 | One can be virtuous through a whim [Camus] |
23896 | We see our character as a restricting limit, but also as an unshakable support [Weil] |
23894 | The concept of character is at the centre of morality [Weil] |
23893 | We don't see character in a single moment, but only over a period of time [Weil] |
23895 | We modify our character by placing ourselves in situations, or by attending to what seems trivial [Weil] |
23399 | Each correct feeling relies on an underlying virtue [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
8235 | Should a coward who ran fifty paces from a battle laugh at another who ran a hundred? [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
23837 | Respect is our only obligation, which can only be expressed through deeds, not words [Weil] |
23815 | We cannot equally respect what is unequal, so equal respect needs a shared ground [Weil] |
23834 | Friendship is partly universal - the love of a person is like the ideal of loving everyone [Weil] |
9243 | If we believe existence is absurd, this should dictate our conduct [Camus] |
6708 | Happiness and the absurd go together, each leading to the other [Camus] |
23823 | Life needs risks to avoid sickly boredom [Weil] |
9242 | Essential problems either risk death, or intensify the passion of life [Camus] |
9246 | Danger and integrity are not in the leap of faith, but in remaining poised just before the leap [Camus] |
23844 | The most important human need is to have multiple roots [Weil] |
23838 | The need for order stands above all others, and is understood via the other needs [Weil] |
23836 | Obligations only bind individuals, not collectives [Weil] |
23840 | A citizen should be able to understand the whole of society [Weil] |
23822 | We all need to partipate in public tasks, and take some initiative [Weil] |
23843 | Even the poorest should feel collective ownership, and participation in grand display [Weil] |
23846 | Culture is an instrument for creating an ongoing succession of teachers [Weil] |
23857 | People in power always try to increase their power [Weil] |
23866 | In oppressive societies the scope of actual control is extended by a religion of power [Weil] |
23812 | Force is what turns man into a thing, and ultimately into a corpse [Weil] |
23831 | The essence of power is illusory prestige [Weil] |
8240 | A true king shares his pleasure with the people [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
23839 | A lifelong head of society should only be a symbol, not a ruler [Weil] |
23871 | No central authority can initiate decentralisation [Weil] |
23856 | Spontaneous movements are powerless against organised repression [Weil] |
23867 | After a bloody revolution the group which already had the power comes to the fore [Weil] |
23830 | A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil] |
23809 | Our only social duty is to try to limit evil [Weil] |
23870 | Decentralisation is only possible by co-operation between strong and weak - which is absurd [Weil] |
23829 | National leaders want to preserve necessary order - but always the existing order [Weil] |
23817 | We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil] |
23842 | Party politics in a democracy can't avoid an anti-democratic party [Weil] |
23859 | True democracy is the subordination of society to the individual [Weil] |
23863 | Only individual people of good will can achieve social progress [Weil] |
23869 | In the least evil societies people can think, control community life, and be autonomous [Weil] |
8237 | Extend the treatment of the old and young in your family to the rest of society [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
23847 | Socialism tends to make a proletariat of the whole population [Weil] |
23750 | It is not more money which the wretched members of society need [Weil] |
23807 | The collective is the one and only object of false idolatry [Weil] |
23749 | The problem of the collective is not suppression of persons, but persons erasing themselves [Weil] |
23861 | Marx showed that capitalist oppression, because of competition, is unstoppable [Weil] |
23897 | Once money is the main aim, society needs everyone to think wealth is possible [Weil] |
23845 | The capitalists neglect the people and the nation, and even their own interests [Weil] |
23828 | National prestige consists of behaving as if you could beat the others in a war [Weil] |
23810 | Charity is the only love, and you can feel that for a country (a place with traditions), but not a nation [Weil] |
23811 | If effort is from necessity rather than for a good, it is slavery [Weil] |
23868 | The pleasure of completing tasks motivates just as well as the whip of slavery [Weil] |
23819 | Deliberate public lying should be punished [Weil] |
23818 | We have liberty in the space between nature and accepted authority [Weil] |
23901 | Relationships depend on equality, so unequal treatment kills them [Weil] |
23753 | People absurdly claim an equal share of things which are essentially privileged [Weil] |
23841 | By making money the sole human measure, inequality has become universal [Weil] |
23864 | Inequality could easily be mitigated, if it were not for the struggle for power [Weil] |
23835 | People have duties, and only have rights because of the obligations of others to them [Weil] |
23751 | Rights are asserted contentiously, and need the backing of force [Weil] |
23752 | Giving centrality to rights stifles all impulses of charity [Weil] |
23820 | People need personal and collective property, and a social class lacking property is shameful [Weil] |
23813 | Only people who understand force, and don't respect it, are capable of justice [Weil] |
23757 | The spirit of justice needs the full attention of truth, and that attention is love [Weil] |
23761 | Justice (concerning harm) is distinct from rights (concerning inequality) [Weil] |
23852 | To punish people we must ourselves be innocent - but that undermines the desire to punish [Weil] |
8241 | Only put someone to death if the whole population believes it is deserved [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
23764 | The only thing in society worse than crime is repressive justice [Weil] |
23821 | Crime should be punished, to bring the perpetrator freely back to morality [Weil] |
23763 | Punishment aims at the good for men who don't desire it [Weil] |
23827 | Modern wars are fought in the name of empty words which are given capital letters [Weil] |
23880 | When war was a profession, customary morality justified any act of war [Weil] |
23850 | The soldier-civilian distinction should be abolished; every citizen is committed to a war [Weil] |
8238 | Seeking peace through war is like looking for fish up a tree [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
23858 | War is perpetuated by its continual preparations [Weil] |
23851 | Education is essentially motivation [Weil] |
23873 | Dividing history books into separate chapters is disastrous [Weil] |
9248 | It is essential to die unreconciled and not of one's own free will [Camus] |
23860 | Even if a drowning man is doomed, he should keep swimming to the last [Weil] |
8236 | Avoid the animals you are going to eat, as it is hard once you have got to know them [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
23816 | Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil] |
23754 | The only choice is between supernatural good, or evil [Weil] |
23892 | The only legitimate proof of God by order derives from beauty [Weil] |
23904 | The cruelty of the Old Testament put me off Christianity [Weil] |
23849 | Religion should quietly suffuse all human life with its light [Weil] |
23902 | I attach little importance to immortality, which is an undecidable fact, and irrelevant to us [Weil] |
23765 | The soul is the intrinsic value of a human [Weil] |