75 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] |
1765 | Diogenes said avoidance of philosophy is the lack of a desire to live properly [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius] |
5891 | Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments [Cicero] |
21021 | Keep premises as weak as possible, to avoid controversial difficulties [Nussbaum] |
2661 | Dialectic is speech cast in the form of logical argument [Cicero] |
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] |
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] |
1762 | When someone denied motion, Diogenes got up and walked away [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius] |
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] |
5886 | Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things [Cicero] |
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] |
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] |
7813 | Cynicism was open to anyone, and needed neither education nor sophistication [Diogenes of Sin., by Grayling] |
21007 | Storytelling is never neutral; some features of the world must be emphasised [Nussbaum] |
22688 | The Aristotelian idea that choices can be perceived needs literary texts to expound it [Nussbaum] |
21678 | If desire is not in our power then neither are choices, so we should not be praised or punished [Cicero] |
1763 | Diogenes said a plucked chicken fits Plato's definition of man [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius] |
5071 | The Cynics rejected what is conventional as irrational, and aimed to live by nature [Taylor,R on Diogenes of Sin.] |
21836 | Philosophers after Aristotle endorsed the medical analogy for eudaimonia [Nussbaum, by Flanagan] |
7812 | For peace of mind, you need self-government, indifference and independence [Diogenes of Sin.] |
21025 | Particularism gives no guidance for the future [Nussbaum] |
2672 | Virtues must be very detached, to avoid being motivated by pleasure [Cicero] |
21026 | Compassion is unreliable, because it favours people close to us [Nussbaum] |
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] |
21019 | Social contracts assume equal powers among the participants [Nussbaum] |
1764 | Diogenes said he was a citizen of the world [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius] |
5968 | Diogenes masturbated in public, wishing he could get rid of hunger so easily [Diogenes of Sin., by Plutarch] |
21011 | We shouldn't focus on actual preferences, which may be distorted by injustices [Nussbaum] |
5895 | If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero] |
21008 | Liberalism does not need a comprehensive account of value [Nussbaum] |
21125 | Liberals must respect family freedom - but families are the great oppressors of women [Nussbaum] |
21012 | Women are often treated like children, and not respected for their choices [Nussbaum] |
1766 | Diogenes said that the most excellent thing among men was freedom of speech [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius] |
21015 | Negative liberty is incoherent; all liberties, to do and to be, require the prevention of interference [Nussbaum] |
21017 | Political freedom is an incoherent project, because some freedoms limit other freedoms [Nussbaum] |
21016 | Political and civil rights are not separate from economic and social rights [Nussbaum] |
21009 | Capabilities: Life, Health, Safety, Mental life, Love, Planning, Joining in, Nature, Play, Control [Nussbaum, by PG] |
21010 | Justice requires that the ten main capabilities of people are reasonably enabled [Nussbaum] |
21013 | Capabilities are grounded in bare humanity and agency; qualifying as rational is not needed [Nussbaum] |
21014 | Rights are not just barriers against state interference; governments must affirm capabilities of citizens [Nussbaum] |
2640 | We have the death penalty, but still have thousands of robbers [Cicero] |
21020 | Any establishment belief system is incompatible with full respect for all citizens [Nussbaum] |
21023 | We should respect animals in the way that we respect the animal nature in humans [Nussbaum] |
21024 | It may be no harm to kill an animal which cannot plan for its future [Nussbaum] |
21022 | The Capabilities Approach sees animals as agents, not just as having feelings [Nussbaum] |
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] |
2647 | It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium [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] |
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] |