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Single Idea 1820

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 1. Empiricism ]

Full Idea

The criteria of truth are the senses, the preconceptions, and the passions.

Gist of Idea

The criteria of truth are senses, preconceptions and passions

Source

report of Epicurus (fragments/reports [c.289 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 10.20

Book Ref

Diogenes Laertius: 'Diogenes Laertius', ed/tr. Yonge,C.D. [Henry G. Bohn 1853], p.435

The 46 ideas from 'fragments/reports'

22758 Philosophy aims at a happy life, through argument and discussion [Epicurus]
14523 We should come to philosophy free from any taint of culture [Epicurus]
1484 We should say nothing of the whole if our contact is with the parts [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
2670 Epicurus despises and laughs at the whole of dialectic [Epicurus, by Cicero]
21668 Epicurus rejected excluded middle, because accepting it for events is fatalistic [Epicurus, by Cicero]
21676 Epicureans say disjunctions can be true whiile the disjuncts are not true [Epicurus, by Cicero]
1824 To name something, you must already have an idea of what it is [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1820 The criteria of truth are senses, preconceptions and passions [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1487 When entering a dark room it is colourless, but colour gradually appears [Epicurus]
3562 Fine things are worthless if they give no pleasure [Epicurus]
3557 The end for Epicurus is static pleasure [Epicurus, by Annas]
1823 We can't seek for things if we have no idea of them [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1821 Sensations cannot be judged, because similar sensations have equal value, and different ones have nothing in common [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1822 Reason can't judge senses, as it is based on them [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1482 If two people disagree over taste, who is right? [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
1483 Bath water is too hot for some, too cold for others [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
4549 Epicurus denied knowledge in order to retain morality or hedonism as the highest values [Nietzsche on Epicurus]
2668 Epicurus says if one of a man's senses ever lies, none of his senses should ever be believed [Epicurus, by Cicero]
14526 The rational soul is in the chest, and the non-rational soul is spread through the body [Epicurus]
6035 Soul is made of four stuffs, giving warmth, rest, motion and perception [Epicurus, by Aetius]
1831 Wise men should partake of life even if they go blind [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
6018 Epicurus was the first to see the free will problem, and he was a libertarian [Epicurus, by Long/Sedley]
20922 Epicurus showed that the swerve can give free motion in the atoms [Epicurus, by Diogenes of Oen.]
14525 Stoics say time is incorporeal and self-sufficient; Epicurus says it is a property of properties of things [Epicurus]
1909 How can pleasure or judgement occur in a heap of atoms? [Sext.Empiricus on Epicurus]
7814 It was Epicurus who made the question of the will's freedom central to ethics [Epicurus, by Grayling]
1845 Justice has no independent existence, but arises entirely from keeping contracts [Epicurus]
1840 Pleasure is the chief good because it is the most natural, especially for animals [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1839 Pains of the soul are worse than pains of the body, because it feels the past and future [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1842 Pleasures only differ in their duration and the part of the body affected [Epicurus]
1843 Friendship is by far the most important ingredient of a complete and happy life [Epicurus]
1841 We choose virtue because of pleasure, not for its own sake [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
1829 A wise man would be happy even under torture [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
2633 Epicurus saw that gods must exist, because nature has imprinted them on human minds [Epicurus, by Cicero]
2637 For Epicureans gods are made of atoms, and are not eternal [Epicurus, by Cicero]
12044 Only Epicurus denied purpose in nature, for the whole world, or for its parts [Epicurus, by Annas]
20907 Democritus says atoms have size and shape, and Epicurus added weight [Epicurus, by Ps-Plutarch]
21669 Atoms don't swerve by being struck, because they move in parallel, so the swerve is uncaused [Cicero on Epicurus]
21680 What causes atomic swerves? Do they draw lots? What decides the size or number of swerves? [Cicero on Epicurus]
2639 Some say Epicurus only pretended to believe in the gods, so as not to offend Athenians [Epicurus, by Cicero]
14527 If god answered prayers we would be destroyed, because we pray for others to suffer [Epicurus]
22733 Epicurus accepted God in his popular works, but not in his writings on nature [Epicurus, by Sext.Empiricus]
13291 Slavery to philosophy brings true freedom [Epicurus]
14516 There is no necessity to live with necessity [Epicurus]
22240 The aim of medicine is removal of sickness, and philosophy similarly removes our affections [Epicurus]
5949 Epicurus says colours are relative to the eye, not intrinsic to bodies [Epicurus, by Plutarch]