54 ideas
6259 | Why can't a wise man doubt everything? [Montaigne] |
6263 | No wisdom could make us comfortably walk a wide beam if it was high in the air [Montaigne] |
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] |
23122 | Montaigne was the founding father of liberalism [Montaigne, by Gopnik] |
23531 | Philosophers should interpret the world, by expressing its possibilities [Berardi] |
7465 | Babylonian thinking used analogy, rather than deduction or induction [Watson] |
6258 | Virtue is the distinctive mark of truth, and its greatest product [Montaigne] |
7466 | Mesopotamian numbers applied to specific things, and then became abstract [Watson] |
23538 | Nothingness only exists in consciousness [Berardi] |
6262 | We lack some sense or other, and hence objects may have hidden features [Montaigne] |
6260 | Sceptics say there is truth, but no means of making or testing lasting judgements [Montaigne] |
6261 | The soul is in the brain, as shown by head injuries [Montaigne] |
20657 | There are 23 core brain functions, with known circuit, transmitters, genes and behaviour [Watson] |
23532 | The delusion of free will brings a sense of guilt [Berardi] |
20656 | Traditional ideas of the mind were weakened in the 1950s by mind-influencing drugs [Watson] |
7496 | Rules and duties are based on the will, as that is all we control [Montaigne] |
20655 | Humans have been hunter-gatherers for 99.5% of their existence [Watson] |
7495 | Apart from the fear, dying is an easy duty [Montaigne] |
22269 | We must fight fiercely to hang on to the few pleasures which survive into old age [Montaigne] |
20482 | Virtue inspires Stoics, but I want a good temperament [Montaigne] |
20480 | There is not much point in only becoming good near the end of your life [Montaigne] |
7477 | Modern democracy is actually elective oligarchy [Watson] |
23537 | American white men trusted the philosophy of winning, and then discovered losing [Berardi] |
23536 | Community is now a nostalgic memory, which no longer exists [Berardi] |
23534 | Communism failed to unite western workers with the oppressed of the south [Berardi] |
23533 | The economy has replaced medieval theocracy at the centre of our society [Berardi] |
23535 | Western workers turn to nationalism, to avert the effects of globalisation [Berardi] |
20481 | Nothing we say can be worse than unsaying it in the face of authority [Montaigne] |
20479 | People at home care far more than soldiers risking death about the outcome of wars [Montaigne] |
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] |
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] |
7479 | Modern Judaism became stabilised in 200 CE [Watson] |
7481 | The Israelites may have asserted the uniqueness of Yahweh to justify land claims [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] |
7484 | Jesus never intended to start a new religion [Watson] |
7483 | Paul's early writings mention few striking episodes from Jesus' life [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] |