more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 1483

[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 1. Relativism ]

Full Idea

In the very same bath some treat the water as too hot, others as too cold.

Gist of Idea

Bath water is too hot for some, too cold for others

Source

report of Epicurus (fragments/reports [c.289 BCE]) by Plutarch - 74: Reply to Colotes 1109b

Book Ref

Plutarch: 'Moralia - vol 14', ed/tr. Einarson,B. /De Lacy P.H. [Harvard Loeb 1967], p.201


The 46 ideas from 'fragments/reports'

Reason can't judge senses, as it is based on them [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
If two people disagree over taste, who is right? [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
Fine things are worthless if they give no pleasure [Epicurus]
We choose virtue because of pleasure, not for its own sake [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
Epicurus saw that gods must exist, because nature has imprinted them on human minds [Epicurus, by Cicero]
If god answered prayers we would be destroyed, because we pray for others to suffer [Epicurus]
We can't seek for things if we have no idea of them [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
To name something, you must already have an idea of what it is [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
Sensations cannot be judged, because similar sensations have equal value, and different ones have nothing in common [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
The criteria of truth are senses, preconceptions and passions [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
Bath water is too hot for some, too cold for others [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
When entering a dark room it is colourless, but colour gradually appears [Epicurus]
Epicurus denied knowledge in order to retain morality or hedonism as the highest values [Nietzsche on Epicurus]
Epicurus says if one of a man's senses ever lies, none of his senses should ever be believed [Epicurus, by Cicero]
The rational soul is in the chest, and the non-rational soul is spread through the body [Epicurus]
Soul is made of four stuffs, giving warmth, rest, motion and perception [Epicurus, by Aetius]
Epicurus was the first to see the free will problem, and he was a libertarian [Epicurus, by Long/Sedley]
Epicurus showed that the swerve can give free motion in the atoms [Epicurus, by Diogenes of Oen.]
How can pleasure or judgement occur in a heap of atoms? [Sext.Empiricus on Epicurus]
It was Epicurus who made the question of the will's freedom central to ethics [Epicurus, by Grayling]
Friendship is by far the most important ingredient of a complete and happy life [Epicurus]
Pleasure is the chief good because it is the most natural, especially for animals [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
The end for Epicurus is static pleasure [Epicurus, by Annas]
Pains of the soul are worse than pains of the body, because it feels the past and future [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
Pleasures only differ in their duration and the part of the body affected [Epicurus]
Justice has no independent existence, but arises entirely from keeping contracts [Epicurus]
A wise man would be happy even under torture [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
Wise men should partake of life even if they go blind [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
Only Epicurus denied purpose in nature, for the whole world, or for its parts [Epicurus, by Annas]
Democritus says atoms have size and shape, and Epicurus added weight [Epicurus, by Ps-Plutarch]
Atoms don't swerve by being struck, because they move in parallel, so the swerve is uncaused [Cicero on Epicurus]
What causes atomic swerves? Do they draw lots? What decides the size or number of swerves? [Cicero on Epicurus]
Stoics say time is incorporeal and self-sufficient; Epicurus says it is a property of properties of things [Epicurus]
For Epicureans gods are made of atoms, and are not eternal [Epicurus, by Cicero]
Some say Epicurus only pretended to believe in the gods, so as not to offend Athenians [Epicurus, by Cicero]
Epicurus accepted God in his popular works, but not in his writings on nature [Epicurus, by Sext.Empiricus]
Philosophy aims at a happy life, through argument and discussion [Epicurus]
Slavery to philosophy brings true freedom [Epicurus]
We should come to philosophy free from any taint of culture [Epicurus]
Epicurus despises and laughs at the whole of dialectic [Epicurus, by Cicero]
We should say nothing of the whole if our contact is with the parts [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
Epicurus rejected excluded middle, because accepting it for events is fatalistic [Epicurus, by Cicero]
Epicureans say disjunctions can be true whiile the disjuncts are not true [Epicurus, by Cicero]
There is no necessity to live with necessity [Epicurus]
The aim of medicine is removal of sickness, and philosophy similarly removes our affections [Epicurus]
Epicurus says colours are relative to the eye, not intrinsic to bodies [Epicurus, by Plutarch]