135 ideas
19767 | Reason leads to prudent selfishness, which overrules natural compassion [Rousseau] |
19807 | Both nature and reason require that everything has a cause [Rousseau] |
19757 | No one would bother to reason, and try to know things, without a desire for enjoyment [Rousseau] |
22137 | Observation can force rejection of some part of the initial set of claims [Duhem, by Boulter] |
18197 | Experiments only test groups of hypotheses, and can't show which one is wrong [Duhem] |
19760 | General ideas are purely intellectual; imagining them is immediately particular [Rousseau] |
19759 | Only words can introduce general ideas into the mind [Rousseau] |
19758 | Language may aid thinking, but powerful thought was needed to produce language [Rousseau] |
19773 | Without love, what use is beauty? [Rousseau] |
7235 | Without freedom of will actions lack moral significance [Rousseau] |
19769 | Rational morality is OK for brainy people, but ordinary life can't rely on that [Rousseau] |
19752 | If we should not mistreat humans, it is mainly because of sentience, not rationality [Rousseau] |
3031 | The greatest good is not the achievement of desire, but to desire what is proper [Menedemus, by Diog. Laertius] |
19768 | The better Golden Rule is 'do good for yourself without harming others' [Rousseau] |
19766 | The fact that we weep (e.g. in theatres) shows that we are naturally compassionate [Rousseau] |
20759 | Feelings are prior to intelligence; we should be content to live with our simplest feelings [Rousseau] |
19756 | Humans are less distinguished from other animals by understanding, than by being free agents [Rousseau] |
19755 | Most human ills are self-inflicted; the simple, solitary, regular natural life is good [Rousseau] |
19762 | Is language a pre-requisite for society, or might it emerge afterwards? [Rousseau] |
19763 | I doubt whether a savage person ever complains of life, or considers suicide [Rousseau] |
19778 | Leisure led to envy, inequality, vice and revenge, which we now see in savages [Rousseau] |
19779 | Primitive man was very gentle [Rousseau] |
19751 | Our two starting principles are concern for self-interest, and compassion for others [Rousseau] |
19791 | Natural mankind is too fragmented for states of peace, or of war and enmity [Rousseau] |
19765 | Savages avoid evil because they are calm, and never think of it (not because they know goodness) [Rousseau] |
19771 | Savage men quietly pursue desires, without the havoc of modern frenzied imagination [Rousseau] |
20501 | Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition [Rousseau, by Wolff,J] |
7237 | The act of becoming 'a people' is the real foundation of society [Rousseau] |
19792 | To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power [Rousseau] |
19812 | Human nature changes among a people, into a moral and partial existence [Rousseau] |
19814 | A state must be big enough to preserve itself, but small enough to be governable [Rousseau] |
19815 | Too much land is a struggle, producing defensive war; too little makes dependence, and offensive war [Rousseau] |
19822 | If the state enlarges, the creators of the general will become less individually powerful [Rousseau] |
19823 | If the population is larger, the government needs to be more powerful [Rousseau] |
19774 | A savage can steal fruit or a home, but there is no means of achieving obedience [Rousseau] |
7232 | Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains [Rousseau] |
7234 | No man has any natural authority over his fellows [Rousseau] |
19772 | In a state of nature people are much more equal; it is society which increases inequalities [Rousseau] |
19789 | It is against nature for children to rule old men, fools to rule the wise, and the rich to hog resources [Rousseau] |
19816 | A state's purpose is liberty and equality - liberty for strength, and equality for liberty [Rousseau] |
7247 | The greatest social good comes down to freedom and equality [Rousseau] |
19838 | The measure of a successful state is increase in its population [Rousseau] |
19848 | The sovereignty does not appoint the leaders [Rousseau] |
19787 | People accept the right to be commanded, because they themselves wish to command [Rousseau] |
20567 | Rousseau insists that popular sovereignty needs a means of expressing consent [Rousseau, by Oksala] |
19801 | Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will, which can never be delegated [Rousseau] |
19805 | Just as people control their limbs, the general-will state has total control of its members [Rousseau] |
19818 | Political laws are fundamental, as they firmly organise the state - but they could still be changed [Rousseau] |
19790 | Force can only dominate if it is seen as a right, and obedience as a duty [Rousseau] |
7233 | The social order is a sacred right, but based on covenants, not nature [Rousseau] |
19842 | The government is instituted by a law, not by a contract [Rousseau] |
7239 | The social pact is the total subjection of individuals to the general will [Rousseau] |
19793 | We need a protective association which unites forces, but retains individual freedom [Rousseau] |
7240 | To foreign powers a state is seen as a simple individual [Rousseau] |
19795 | The act of association commits citizens to the state, and the state to its citizens [Rousseau] |
19797 | Citizens must ultimately for forced to accept the general will (so freedom is compulsory!) [Rousseau] |
19796 | Individual citizens still retain a private will, which may be contrary to the general will [Rousseau] |
7244 | The general will is common interest; the will of all is the sum of individual desires [Rousseau] |
19802 | The general will is always right, but the will of all can err, because it includes private interests [Rousseau] |
19803 | If the state contains associations there are fewer opinions, undermining the general will [Rousseau] |
19804 | If a large knowledgeable population votes in isolation, their many choices will have good results [Rousseau] |
19808 | The general will changes its nature when it focuses on particulars [Rousseau] |
7246 | The general will is always good, but sometimes misunderstood [Rousseau] |
7250 | Laws are authentic acts of the general will [Rousseau] |
19844 | Assemblies must always confirm the form of government, and the current administration [Rousseau] |
19846 | The more unanimous the assembly, the stronger the general will becomes [Rousseau] |
19854 | We all owe labour in return for our keep, and every idle citizen is a thief [Rousseau] |
19817 | Citizens should be independent of each other, and very dependent on the state [Rousseau] |
19840 | A citizen is a subject who is also sovereign [Rousseau] |
19780 | We seem to have made individual progress since savagery, but actually the species has decayed [Rousseau] |
19839 | The flourishing of arts and letters is too much admired [Rousseau] |
19798 | Ancient monarchs were kings of peoples; modern monarchs more cleverly rule a land [Rousseau] |
19831 | The highest officers under a monarchy are normally useless; the public could choose much better [Rousseau] |
19833 | Hereditary monarchy is easier, but can lead to dreadful monarchs [Rousseau] |
19834 | Attempts to train future kings don't usually work, and the best have been unprepared [Rousseau] |
19829 | Natural aristocracy is primitive, and hereditary is dreadful, but elective aristocracy is best [Rousseau] |
7249 | Natural aristocracy is primitive, hereditary is bad, and elective aristocracy is the best [Rousseau] |
19830 | Large states need a nobility to fill the gap between a single prince and the people [Rousseau] |
19827 | Law makers and law implementers should be separate [Rousseau] |
19820 | The state has a legislature and an executive, just like the will and physical power in a person [Rousseau] |
19821 | I call the executive power the 'government', which is the 'prince' - a single person, or a group [Rousseau] |
19824 | Large populations needs stronger control, which means power should be concentrated [Rousseau] |
19826 | Democracy for small states, aristocracy for intermediate, monarchy for large [Rousseau] |
19747 | Revolutionaries usually confuse liberty with total freedom, and end up with heavier chains [Rousseau] |
19837 | If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult [Rousseau] |
19843 | The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders [Rousseau] |
19825 | If the sovereign entrusts government to at least half the citizens, that is 'democracy' [Rousseau] |
19832 | Democratic elections are dangerous intervals in government [Rousseau] |
19748 | Plebiscites are bad, because they exclude the leaders from crucial decisions [Rousseau] |
7243 | Silence of the people implies their consent [Rousseau] |
19749 | In a direct democracy, only the leaders should be able to propose new laws [Rousseau] |
7251 | The English are actually slaves in between elections [Rousseau] |
7238 | Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement [Rousseau] |
19828 | Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling [Rousseau] |
19835 | When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies [Rousseau] |
19745 | The nature of people is decided by the government and politics of their society [Rousseau] |
19849 | In early theocracies the god was the king, and there were as many gods as nations [Rousseau] |
19784 | Enslaved peoples often boast of their condition, calling it a state of 'peace' [Rousseau] |
19785 | If the child of a slave woman is born a slave, then a man is not born a man [Rousseau] |
19841 | Sometimes full liberty is only possible at the expense of some complete enslavement [Rousseau] |
19847 | We can never assume that the son of a slave is a slave [Rousseau] |
19775 | People must be made dependent before they can be enslaved [Rousseau] |
7242 | Appetite alone is slavery, and self-prescribed laws are freedom [Rousseau] |
19746 | Like rich food, liberty can ruin people who are too weak to cope with it [Rousseau] |
19786 | Three stages of the state produce inequalities of wealth, power, and enslavement [Rousseau] |
19800 | The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally [Rousseau] |
19788 | The pleasure of wealth and power is largely seeing others deprived of them [Rousseau] |
7248 | No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself [Rousseau] |
19794 | If we all give up all of our rights together to the community, we will always support one another [Rousseau] |
7241 | In society man loses natural liberty, but gains a right to civil liberty and property [Rousseau] |
19806 | We alienate to society only what society needs - but society judges that, not us [Rousseau] |
19777 | Persuading other people that some land was 'owned' was the beginning of society [Rousseau] |
19782 | What else could property arise from, but the labour people add to it? [Rousseau] |
19781 | Land cultivation led to a general right of ownership, administered justly [Rousseau] |
19754 | If we have a natural right to property, what exactly does 'belonging to' mean? [Rousseau] |
19799 | Private property must always be subordinate to ownership by the whole community [Rousseau] |
19819 | The state ensures liberty, so civil law separates citizens, and binds them to the state [Rousseau] |
19750 | Writers just propose natural law as the likely useful agreements among people [Rousseau] |
7245 | Natural justice, without sanctions, benefits the wicked, who exploit it [Rousseau] |
19809 | We accept the death penalty to prevent assassinations, so we must submit to it if necessary [Rousseau] |
19810 | A trial proves that a criminal has broken the social treaty, and is no longer a member of the state [Rousseau] |
19770 | Primitive people simply redressed the evil caused by violence, without thought of punishing [Rousseau] |
19811 | Only people who are actually dangerous should be executed, even as an example [Rousseau] |
7236 | War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory [Rousseau] |
23607 | Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident [Rousseau] |
19783 | A state of war remains after a conquest, if the losers don't accept the winners [Rousseau] |
19850 | By separating theological and political systems, Jesus caused divisions in the state [Rousseau] |
19852 | Civil religion needs one supreme god, an afterlife, justice, and the sanctity of the social contract [Rousseau] |
19853 | All religions should be tolerated, if they tolerate each other, and support citizenship [Rousseau] |
19851 | Every society has a religion as its base [Rousseau] |
19836 | The amount of taxation doesn't matter, if it quickly circulates back to the citizens [Rousseau] |
19753 | Both men and animals are sentient, which should give the latter the right not to be mistreated [Rousseau] |
19761 | Men started with too few particular names, but later had too few natural kind names [Rousseau] |
19776 | Small uninterrupted causes can have big effects [Rousseau] |
7252 | A tyrant exploits Christians because they don't value this life, and are made to be slaves [Rousseau] |