27 ideas
7823 | Lucretius was rediscovered in 1417 [Grayling] |
6408 | Russell needed three extra axioms to reduce maths to logic: infinity, choice and reducibility [Grayling] |
6414 | Two propositions might seem self-evident, but contradict one another [Grayling] |
7091 | The argument from analogy is not a strong inference, since the other being might be an actor or a robot [Grayling] |
7293 | It is legitimate to do harm if it is the unintended side-effect of an effort to achieve a good [Grayling] |
22687 | Maybe literary assessment is evaluating the artist as a suitable friend [Gaut] |
22686 | Formalists say aesthetics concerns types of beauty, or unity, complexity and intensity [Gaut] |
22684 | Good ethics counts towards aesthetic merit, and bad ethics counts against it [Gaut] |
22685 | Good art does not necessarily improve people (any more than good advice does) [Gaut] |
22689 | If we don't respond ethically in the way a work prescribes, that is an aesthetic failure [Gaut] |
22690 | 'Moralism' says all aesthetic merits are moral merits [Gaut] |
7809 | In an honour code shame is the supreme punishment, and revenge is a duty [Grayling] |
23262 | Experience, sympathy and history are sensible grounds for laying claim to rights [Grayling] |
23263 | Politics is driven by power cliques [Grayling] |
23255 | It is essential for democracy that voting is free and well informed [Grayling] |
23254 | Democracies should require a supermajority for major questions [Grayling] |
23260 | A cap on time of service would restrict party control and career ambitions [Grayling] |
23253 | Majority decisions are only acceptable if the minority interests are not vital [Grayling] |
23256 | Liberty and equality cannot be reconciled [Grayling] |
23258 | The very concept of democracy entails a need for justice [Grayling] |
23259 | There should be separate legislative, executive and judicial institutions [Grayling] |
7292 | War must also have a good chance of success, and be waged with moderation [Grayling] |
7824 | If suicide is lawful, but assisting suicide is unlawful, powerless people are denied their rights [Grayling] |
3029 | Stilpo said if Athena is a daughter of Zeus, then a statue is only the child of a sculptor, and so is not a god [Stilpo, by Diog. Laertius] |
7819 | Religion gives answers, comforts, creates social order, and panders to superstition [Grayling] |
7817 | To make an afterlife appealing, this life has to be denigrated [Grayling] |
7818 | In Greek mythology only heroes can go to heaven [Grayling] |