65 ideas
21405 | Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral [Cicero, by Long] |
20871 | Unfortunately we choose a way of life before we are old enough to think clearly [Cicero] |
5893 | A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience [Cicero] |
5891 | Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments [Cicero] |
2661 | Dialectic is speech cast in the form of logical argument [Cicero] |
5515 | Imaginary cases are good for revealing our beliefs, rather than the truth [Parfit] |
2653 | If the parts of the universe are subject to the law of nature, the whole universe must also be subject to it [Cicero] |
2673 | There cannot be more than one truth [Cicero] |
21677 | How can the not-true fail to be false, or the not-false fail to be true? [Cicero] |
2669 | Dialectic assumes that all statements are either true or false, but self-referential paradoxes are a big problem [Cicero] |
5516 | Reduction can be by identity, or constitution, or elimination [Parfit, by PG] |
2664 | If we have complete healthy senses, what more could the gods give us? [Cicero] |
2665 | How can there be a memory of what is false? [Cicero] |
20800 | Every true presentation can have a false one of the same quality [Cicero] |
5879 | The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath [Cicero] |
5884 | How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations? [Cicero] |
5887 | The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish [Cicero] |
3539 | Personal identity is just causally related mental states [Parfit, by Maslin] |
5886 | Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things [Cicero] |
5514 | Psychologists are interested in identity as a type of person, but philosophers study numerical identity [Parfit] |
1393 | One of my future selves will not necessarily be me [Parfit] |
5521 | If my brain-halves are transplanted into two bodies, I have continuity, and don't need identity [Parfit] |
5522 | Over a period of time what matters is not that 'I' persist, but that I have psychological continuity [Parfit] |
1392 | If we split like amoeba, we would be two people, neither of them being us [Parfit] |
5519 | It is fine to save two dying twins by merging parts of their bodies into one, and identity is irrelevant [Parfit] |
5520 | If two humans are merged surgically, the new identity is a purely verbal problem [Parfit] |
1391 | Concern for our own lives isn't the source of belief in identity, it is the result of it [Parfit] |
5518 | It doesn't matter whether I exist with half my components replaced (any more than an audio system) [Parfit] |
6029 | Whoever knows future causes knows everything that will be [Cicero] |
2628 | Why would mind mix with matter if it didn't need it? [Cicero] |
5885 | Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls [Cicero] |
7357 | People who control others with fluent language often end up being hated [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
21667 | Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it [Cicero] |
20814 | Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery [Cicero] |
21678 | If desire is not in our power then neither are choices, so we should not be praised or punished [Cicero] |
7358 | All men prefer outward appearance to true excellence [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
7362 | Humans are similar, but social conventions drive us apart (sages and idiots being the exceptions) [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
7360 | Do not do to others what you would not desire yourself [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
2672 | Virtues must be very detached, to avoid being motivated by pleasure [Cicero] |
7359 | Excess and deficiency are equally at fault [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
7363 | The virtues of the best people are humility, maganimity, sincerity, diligence, and graciousness [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
5890 | We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it [Cicero] |
5894 | All men except philosophers fear poverty [Cicero] |
6031 | The essence of propriety is consistency [Cicero] |
9762 | We should focus less on subjects of experience, and more on the experiences themselves [Parfit] |
7361 | Men of the highest calibre avoid political life completely [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
23393 | Confucianism assumes that all good developments have happened, and there is only one Way [Norden on Kongzi (Confucius)] |
5895 | If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero] |
2640 | We have the death penalty, but still have thousands of robbers [Cicero] |
2652 | Some regard nature simply as an irrational force that imparts movement [Cicero] |
2645 | Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction? [Cicero] |
2627 | I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue [Cicero] |
2651 | God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God [Cicero] |
2634 | It seems clear to me that we have an innate idea of the divine [Cicero] |
2636 | Many primitive people know nothing of the gods [Cicero] |
2655 | If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed [Cicero] |
2656 | Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem [Cicero] |
2650 | If a person cannot feel the power of God when looking at the stars, they are probably incapable of feeling [Cicero] |
2647 | It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium [Cicero] |
2657 | If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine [Cicero] |
2638 | Either the gods are identical, or one is more beautiful than another [Cicero] |
2635 | The gods are happy, so virtuous, so rational, so must have human shape [Cicero] |
2641 | Why believe in gods if you have never seen them? [Cicero] |
2659 | The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless [Cicero] |
2658 | The gods blame men for having vices, but they could have given us enough reason to avoid them [Cicero] |