69 ideas
| 6319 | Wise people choose inaction and silence [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 6325 | One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 7490 | Because of Darwin, wisdom as a definite attainable state has faded [Watson] |
| 7461 | The three key ideas are the soul, Europe, and the experiment [Watson] |
| 7464 | The big idea: imitation, the soul, experiments, God, heliocentric universe, evolution? [Watson] |
| 22338 | An unexamined life can be virtuous [Murdoch] |
| 22337 | Philosophy must keep returning to the beginning [Murdoch] |
| 6321 | Vulgar people are alert; I alone am muddled [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 23563 | Philosophy moves continually between elaborate theories and the obvious facts [Murdoch] |
| 7465 | Babylonian thinking used analogy, rather than deduction or induction [Watson] |
| 7466 | Mesopotamian numbers applied to specific things, and then became abstract [Watson] |
| 6328 | To know yet to think that one does not know is best [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 6323 | Pursuit of learning increases activity; the Way decreases it [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 20657 | There are 23 core brain functions, with known circuit, transmitters, genes and behaviour [Watson] |
| 22591 | We know perfection when we see what is imperfect [Murdoch] |
| 20656 | Traditional ideas of the mind were weakened in the 1950s by mind-influencing drugs [Watson] |
| 6331 | Truth is not beautiful; beautiful speech is not truthful [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 22709 | We should first decide what are the great works of art, with aesthetic theory following from that [Murdoch] |
| 22341 | Literature is the most important aspect of culture, because it teaches understanding of living [Murdoch] |
| 22715 | Great art proves the absurdity of art for art's sake [Murdoch] |
| 22712 | Art and morals are essentially the same, and are both identical with love [Murdoch] |
| 22347 | Appreciating beauty in art or nature opens up the good life, by restricting selfishness [Murdoch] |
| 22714 | Because art is love, it improves us morally [Murdoch] |
| 20655 | Humans have been hunter-gatherers for 99.5% of their existence [Watson] |
| 6330 | One with no use for life is wiser than one who values it [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 6327 | Do good to him who has done you an injury [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 22339 | Love is a central concept in morals [Murdoch] |
| 22348 | Ordinary human love is good evidence of transcendent goodness [Murdoch] |
| 22713 | Love is realising something other than oneself is real [Murdoch] |
| 23402 | The highest virtue is achieved without effort [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 22343 | If I attend properly I will have no choices [Murdoch] |
| 6324 | To gain in goodness, treat as good those who are good, and those who are not [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 22349 | Art trains us in the love of virtue [Murdoch] |
| 22340 | It is hard to learn goodness from others, because their virtues are part of their personal history [Murdoch] |
| 6322 | There is no crime greater than having too many desires [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 22346 | Moral reflection and experience gradually reveals unity in the moral world [Murdoch] |
| 22350 | Only trivial virtues can be possessed on their own [Murdoch] |
| 20765 | Man is a brave naked will, separate from a background of values and realities [Murdoch] |
| 22342 | Kantian existentialists care greatly for reasons for action, whereas Surrealists care nothing [Murdoch] |
| 22351 | Only a philosopher might think choices create values [Murdoch] |
| 6320 | The best rulers are invisible, the next admired, the next feared, and the worst are exploited [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 6329 | People are hard to govern because authorities love to do things [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 7477 | Modern democracy is actually elective oligarchy [Watson] |
| 6326 | The better known the law, the more criminals there are [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 23401 | A military victory is not a thing of beauty [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 7478 | Greek philosophers invented the concept of 'nature' as their special subject [Watson] |
| 20650 | The Uncertainty Principle implies that cause and effect can't be measured [Watson] |
| 20649 | The interference of light through two slits confirmed that it is waves [Watson] |
| 20661 | Electrons rotate in hyrogen atoms 10^13 times per second [Watson] |
| 20647 | Quantum theory explains why nature is made up of units, such as elements [Watson] |
| 20654 | Only four particles are needed for matter: up and down quark, electron, electron-neutrino [Watson] |
| 20651 | The shape of molecules is important, as well as the atoms and their bonds [Watson] |
| 20652 | In 1828 the animal substance urea was manufactured from inorganic ingredients [Watson] |
| 20658 | Information is physical, and living can be seen as replicating and preserving information [Watson] |
| 7462 | DNA mutation suggests humans and chimpanzees diverged 6.6 million years ago [Watson] |
| 22345 | Moral philosophy needs a central concept with all the traditional attributes of God [Murdoch] |
| 7470 | During the rise of civilizations, the main gods changed from female to male [Watson] |
| 7474 | Hinduism has no founder, or prophet, or creed, or ecclesiastical structure [Watson] |
| 7480 | Monotheism was a uniquely Israelite creation within the Middle East [Watson] |
| 7481 | The Israelites may have asserted the uniqueness of Yahweh to justify land claims [Watson] |
| 7479 | Modern Judaism became stabilised in 200 CE [Watson] |
| 7471 | The Gathas (hymns) of Zoroastrianism date from about 1000 BCE [Watson] |
| 7473 | Zoroaster conceived the afterlife, judgement, heaven and hell, and the devil [Watson] |
| 7483 | Paul's early writings mention few striking episodes from Jesus' life [Watson] |
| 7484 | Jesus never intended to start a new religion [Watson] |
| 7475 | Confucius revered the spiritual world, but not the supernatural, or a personal god, or the afterlife [Watson] |
| 7476 | Taoism aims at freedom from the world, the body, the mind, and nature [Watson] |
| 7463 | The three basic ingredients of religion are: the soul, seers or priests, and ritual [Watson] |
| 7468 | In ancient Athens the souls of the dead are received by the 'upper air' [Watson] |