50 ideas
| 5300 | Philosophers have interpreted the world, but the point is to change it [Marx] |
| 14611 | Metaphysics should avoid talk of past, present or future [Smart] |
| 5297 | Whether human thinking can be 'true' must be decided in practice, not theory [Marx] |
| 17070 | Coherence is consilience, simplicity, analogy, and fitting into a web of belief [Smart] |
| 17072 | We need comprehensiveness, as well as self-coherence [Smart] |
| 17073 | I simply reject evidence, if it is totally contrary to my web of belief [Smart] |
| 17077 | The height of a flagpole could be fixed by its angle of shadow, but that would be very unusual [Smart] |
| 17078 | Universe expansion explains the red shift, but not vice versa [Smart] |
| 17061 | Explanation of a fact is fitting it into a system of beliefs [Smart] |
| 17074 | Explanations are bad by fitting badly with a web of beliefs, or fitting well into a bad web [Smart] |
| 17076 | Deducing from laws is one possible way to achieve a coherent explanation [Smart] |
| 17071 | An explanation is better if it also explains phenomena from a different field [Smart] |
| 17062 | If scientific explanation is causal, that rules out mathematical explanation [Smart] |
| 17075 | Scientific explanation tends to reduce things to the unfamiliar (not the familiar) [Smart] |
| 22598 | The authentic self exists at the level of class, rather than the individual [Marx, by Dunt] |
| 5298 | The human essence is not found in individuals but in social relations [Marx] |
| 23874 | Armies and businesses create moralities in which their activity can do no wrong [Marx, by Weil] |
| 22405 | Negative utilitarianism implies that the world should be destroyed, to avoid future misery [Smart] |
| 22404 | Any group interested in ethics must surely have a sentiment of generalised benevolence [Smart] |
| 22001 | The real will of the cooperative will replace the 'will of the people' [Marx] |
| 21991 | The middle class gain freedom through property, but workers can only free all of humanity [Marx, by Singer] |
| 21990 | Theory is as much a part of a revolution as material force is [Marx] |
| 22971 | In moving from capitalism to communism a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is needed [Marx] |
| 18662 | Liberal freedom is the right to be separate, and ignores the union of man with man [Marx] |
| 23372 | Liberals want the right to be separate, rather than for people to be united [Marx] |
| 20576 | Early Marx anticipates communitarian objections to liberalism [Marx, by Oksala] |
| 21989 | Man is dominated by money, which is the essence of his alienation [Marx] |
| 22000 | From each according to his ability, to each according to his need [Marx] |
| 23862 | By saying the material dialectic of history aspires to the best, Marx agreed with capitalism [Weil on Marx] |
| 21999 | False consciousness results from concealment by the superstructure [Marx, by Singer] |
| 23875 | Marx says force is everything, and that the weak will become strong, while remaining the weak [Weil on Marx] |
| 21995 | Must production determine superstructure, or could it be the other way round? [Singer on Marx] |
| 18653 | Marx rejected equal rights because they never actually treat people as equals [Marx, by Kymlicka] |
| 20577 | Even decently paid workers still have their produce bought with money stolen from them [Marx] |
| 22969 | People who only have their labour power are the slaves of those permitting them to work [Marx] |
| 21996 | Freedom only comes when labour is no longer necessary [Marx] |
| 22970 | Freedom is making the state subordinate to its society [Marx] |
| 21994 | The handmill gives feudalism, the steam mill capitalism [Marx] |
| 20958 | Capitalism changes the world, by socialising the idea of a commodity [Marx, by Bowie] |
| 23876 | The essence of capitalism is the subordination of people to things [Marx, by Weil] |
| 20960 | Marx thought capitalism was partly liberating, and could make labour and ownership more humane [Marx, by Bowie] |
| 22972 | Bourgeois 'freedom of conscience' just tolerates all sorts of religious intolerance [Marx] |
| 20519 | Marxists say liberal rights are confrontational, and liberal equality is a sham [Marx, by Wolff,J] |
| 14613 | Special relativity won't determine a preferred frame, but we can pick one externally [Smart] |
| 17063 | Unlike Newton, Einstein's general theory explains the perihelion of Mercury [Smart] |
| 14615 | If time flows, then 'how fast does it flow?' is a tricky question [Smart] |
| 14614 | The past, present, future and tenses of A-theory are too weird, and should be analysed indexically [Smart] |
| 7128 | Religion is the opium of the people, and real happiness requires its abolition [Marx] |
| 5299 | Religious feeling is social in origin [Marx] |
| 1513 | The Egyptians were the first to say the soul is immortal and reincarnated [Herodotus] |