188 ideas
| 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] |
| 5300 | Philosophers have interpreted the world, but the point is to change it [Marx] |
| 23885 | Philosophy aims to change the soul, not to accumulate knowledge [Weil] |
| 23886 | Systems are not unique to each philosopher. The platonist tradition is old and continuous [Weil] |
| 24215 | We call experience 'objective' when it seems necessary [Weil] |
| 5297 | Whether human thinking can be 'true' must be decided in practice, not theory [Marx] |
| 23884 | Truth is a value of thought [Weil] |
| 23877 | Most people won't question an idea's truth if they depend on it [Weil] |
| 23755 | Genius and love of truth are always accompanied by great humility [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] |
| 24189 | The criterion of the real is contradictions [Weil] |
| 23855 | Creation produced a network or web of determinations [Weil] |
| 24208 | Bodies classify things prior to thought (such as chicks knowing what hits of the egg to peck) [Weil] |
| 23900 | Chance is compatible with necessity, and the two occur together [Weil] |
| 24194 | Wanting new discoveries blocks good thinking about what has been discovered [Weil] |
| 24195 | Don't reject opinions; arrange them all in a hierarchy [Weil] |
| 23888 | Knowledge is beyond question, as an unavoidable component of thinking [Weil] |
| 24209 | Senses are unaware of each other, and give isolated information [Weil] |
| 24211 | Associations are not lawlike, because we make arbitrary choice of which representation matters [Weil] |
| 24214 | Pragmatists are right that science is action on nature - but it must be methodical [Weil] |
| 24213 | Explanations always concern how one thing changes into another [Weil] |
| 24210 | Abstraction is just the character of generalisation [Weil] |
| 24212 | We don't infer the straight from the twisted, because judging the twisted needs the straight [Weil] |
| 23747 | What is sacred is not a person, but the whole physical human being [Weil] |
| 24207 | Observing oneself in the present is impossible, and oneself in the past may be wrong [Weil] |
| 22598 | The authentic self exists at the level of class, rather than the individual [Marx, by Dunt] |
| 24182 | We must be obedient, and love necessity [Weil] |
| 23756 | The mind is imprisoned and limited by language, restricting our awareness of wider thoughts [Weil] |
| 24177 | Higher emotions have less energy, and actions may need the lower emotions [Weil] |
| 23878 | Weakness of will is the inadequacy of the original impetus to carry through the action [Weil] |
| 24184 | What matters about an action is not its aim, but the origin of its compulsion [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] |
| 24198 | Perfect works of art seem to be essentially anonymous [Weil] |
| 23898 | Those who say immorality is not an aesthetic criterion must show that all criteria are aesthetic [Weil] |
| 24216 | Everyone is devoted to morality, if they don't have to implement it [Weil] |
| 23854 | Beauty is the proof of what is good [Weil] |
| 23826 | Beauty, goodness and truth are only achieved by applying full attention [Weil] |
| 23814 | Every human yearns for an unattainable transcendent good [Weil] |
| 5298 | The human essence is not found in individuals but in social relations [Marx] |
| 23824 | Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty [Weil] |
| 23874 | Armies and businesses create moralities in which their activity can do no wrong [Marx, by Weil] |
| 23879 | In a violent moral disagreement, it can't be that both sides are just following social morality [Weil] |
| 24191 | We want our values to be eternal [Weil] |
| 23882 | Ends, unlike means, cannot be defined, which is why people tend to pursue means [Weil] |
| 24197 | Power and money are supreme means, thus blinding people to ends [Weil] |
| 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] |
| 24181 | We need love to have a good death [Weil] |
| 23759 | Everything which originates in love is beautiful [Weil] |
| 24179 | We should never desire the immortality of the people we love [Weil] |
| 23762 | Evil is transmitted by comforts and pleasures, but mostly by doing harm to people [Weil] |
| 24193 | If we focus on the good, our whole soul is drawn towards it [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] |
| 3031 | The greatest good is not the achievement of desire, but to desire what is proper [Menedemus, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 23865 | Morality would improve if people could pursue private interests [Weil] |
| 24196 | Loving others as ourselves implies varied love, and varied suffering [Weil] |
| 23896 | We see our character as a restricting limit, but also as an unshakable support [Weil] |
| 23893 | We don't see character in a single moment, but only over a period of time [Weil] |
| 23894 | The concept of character is at the centre of morality [Weil] |
| 23895 | We modify our character by placing ourselves in situations, or by attending to what seems trivial [Weil] |
| 24183 | We should only perform the good actions which we can't help doing [Weil] |
| 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] |
| 24185 | Friendship is a virtue, not a state we should dream of [Weil] |
| 23834 | Friendship is partly universal - the love of a person is like the ideal of loving everyone [Weil] |
| 24219 | My neighbour's pleasure can't be an end for me [Weil] |
| 24188 | It is absurd to say that evil proves life is worthless. If it were, why would evil matter? [Weil] |
| 24205 | Monotony is beautiful as a reflection of eternity, or atrocious as unvarying perpetuity [Weil] |
| 23823 | Life needs risks to avoid sickly boredom [Weil] |
| 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] |
| 24202 | Obedience to an illegitimate ruler is a nightmare [Weil] |
| 22001 | The real will of the cooperative will replace the 'will of the people' [Marx] |
| 24218 | People can't be citizens in public life if they are oppressed in economic life [Weil] |
| 23840 | A citizen should be able to understand the whole of society [Weil] |
| 24200 | A citizen is defined by their subjection to the laws [Weil] |
| 23843 | Even the poorest should feel collective ownership, and participation in grand display [Weil] |
| 23822 | We all need to partipate in public tasks, and take some initiative [Weil] |
| 23846 | Culture is an instrument for creating an ongoing succession of teachers [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] |
| 24201 | Social order is equilibrium of forces, which must be corrected when imbalanced [Weil] |
| 24199 | There is no oppression, or oppressive class; there is only an oppressive society [Weil] |
| 23857 | People in power always try to increase their power [Weil] |
| 23831 | The essence of power is illusory prestige [Weil] |
| 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] |
| 24203 | Atheistic materialism must be revolutionary, because its good is in the future [Weil] |
| 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] |
| 21991 | The middle class gain freedom through property, but workers can only free all of humanity [Marx, by Singer] |
| 23830 | A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil] |
| 23870 | Decentralisation is only possible by co-operation between strong and weak - which is absurd [Weil] |
| 23809 | Our only social duty is to try to limit evil [Weil] |
| 24190 | Anarchists thought (hopelessly) that empowering the oppressed would end evil [Weil] |
| 23817 | We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil] |
| 23829 | National leaders want to preserve necessary order - but always the existing order [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] |
| 18662 | Liberal freedom is the right to be separate, and ignores the union of man with man [Marx] |
| 23869 | In the least evil societies people can think, control community life, and be autonomous [Weil] |
| 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] |
| 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] |
| 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] |
| 22970 | Freedom is making the state subordinate to its society [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] |
| 23749 | The problem of the collective is not suppression of persons, but persons erasing themselves [Weil] |
| 23807 | The collective is the one and only object of false idolatry [Weil] |
| 21996 | Freedom only comes when labour is no longer necessary [Marx] |
| 21994 | The handmill gives feudalism, the steam mill capitalism [Marx] |
| 23876 | The essence of capitalism is the subordination of people to things [Marx, by Weil] |
| 20958 | Capitalism changes the world, by socialising the idea of a commodity [Marx, by Bowie] |
| 20960 | Marx thought capitalism was partly liberating, and could make labour and ownership more humane [Marx, by Bowie] |
| 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] |
| 22972 | Bourgeois 'freedom of conscience' just tolerates all sorts of religious intolerance [Marx] |
| 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] |
| 24221 | Equality is the result of unlimited freedom [Weil] |
| 23864 | Inequality could easily be mitigated, if it were not for the struggle for power [Weil] |
| 20519 | Marxists say liberal rights are confrontational, and liberal equality is a sham [Marx, by Wolff,J] |
| 23751 | Rights are asserted contentiously, and need the backing of force [Weil] |
| 23752 | Giving centrality to rights stifles all impulses of charity [Weil] |
| 23835 | People have duties, and only have rights because of the obligations of others to them [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] |
| 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] |
| 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] |
| 24217 | History is scientific when it relies on accurate documents [Weil] |
| 23860 | Even if a drowning man is doomed, he should keep swimming to the last [Weil] |
| 24204 | The past is known to us but unreachable - a perfect image of eternal, supernatural reality [Weil] |
| 24222 | If we ignore all our thoughts of the past and the future, there is nothing left of the present [Weil] |
| 24220 | As the highest value, God cannot be proved [Weil] |
| 23754 | The only choice is between supernatural good, or evil [Weil] |
| 23816 | Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil] |
| 24192 | My love makes me believe in God; the inconceivability of this God makes me disbelieve [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] |
| 5299 | Religious feeling is social in origin [Marx] |
| 24178 | We must leave on one side the ordinary 'consolations' of religion [Weil] |
| 24206 | Revolution (not religion) is the opium of the people [Weil] |
| 23849 | Religion should quietly suffuse all human life with its light [Weil] |
| 7128 | Religion is the opium of the people, and real happiness requires its abolition [Marx] |
| 23902 | I attach little importance to immortality, which is an undecidable fact, and irrelevant to us [Weil] |
| 24180 | We just see immortality as prolongation of life, making death meaningless [Weil] |
| 23765 | The soul is the intrinsic value of a human [Weil] |
| 24186 | If the world lacked evil, then the evil would be in our desires, which would be worse [Weil] |
| 24187 | Without worldly affliction, we'd think this is paradise [Weil] |