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Single Idea 19575
[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 3. Individual Essences
]
Full Idea
The more our senses are refined, the more capable they become of distinguishing between individuals. The highest sense would be the highest receptivity to particularity in human nature.
Gist of Idea
Refinement of senses increasingly distinguishes individuals
Source
Novalis (Miscellaneous Observations [1798], 072)
Book Ref
Novalis: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Stoljar,M.M. [SUNY 1997], p.34
A Reaction
I adore this idea!! It goes into the collection of support I am building for individual essences, against the absurd idea of kinds as essences (when they are actually categorisations). It also accompanies particularism in ethics.
Related Idea
Idea 9257
The complexities of life make it almost impossible to assess morality from a universal viewpoint [Prichard]
The
32 ideas
from Novalis
19591
|
Desire for perfection is an illness, if it turns against what is imperfect
[Novalis]
|
22026
|
Philosophy is homesickness - the urge to be at home everywhere
[Novalis]
|
19592
|
The basic relations of nature are musical
[Novalis]
|
19593
|
Persons are shaped by a life history; splendid persons are shaped by world history
[Novalis]
|
19594
|
General statements about nature are not valid
[Novalis]
|
19595
|
Nature is a whole, and its individual parts cannot be wholly understood
[Novalis]
|
19596
|
The whole body is involved in the formation of thoughts
[Novalis]
|
22025
|
Novalis thought self-consciousness cannot disclose 'being', because we are temporal creatures
[Novalis, by Pinkard]
|
19579
|
The history of philosophy is just experiments in how to do philosophy
[Novalis]
|
19580
|
If the pupil really yearns for the truth, they only need a hint
[Novalis]
|
19581
|
A problem is a solid mass, which the mind must break up
[Novalis]
|
19582
|
Morality and philosophy are mutually dependent
[Novalis]
|
19583
|
Philosophy only begins when it studies itself
[Novalis]
|
19584
|
Whoever first counted to two must have seen the possibility of infinite counting
[Novalis]
|
19585
|
Every person has his own language
[Novalis]
|
22027
|
Life isn't given to us like a novel - we write the novel
[Novalis]
|
22067
|
Poetry is true idealism, and the self-consciousness of the universe
[Novalis]
|
19586
|
Philosophers feed on problems, hoping they are digestible, and spiced with paradox
[Novalis]
|
19587
|
Philosophy aims to produce a priori an absolute and artistic world system
[Novalis]
|
19588
|
The highest aim of philosophy is to combine all philosophies into a unity
[Novalis]
|
19597
|
Logic (the theory of relations) should be applied to mathematics
[Novalis]
|
19598
|
Philosophy relies on our whole system of learning, and can thus never be complete
[Novalis]
|
19571
|
Delusion and truth differ in their life functions
[Novalis]
|
19572
|
Experiences tests reason, and reason tests experience
[Novalis]
|
19573
|
The seat of the soul is where our inner and outer worlds interpenetrate
[Novalis]
|
19574
|
If man sacrifices truth he sacrifices himself, by acting against his own convictions
[Novalis]
|
19575
|
Refinement of senses increasingly distinguishes individuals
[Novalis]
|
19576
|
Religion needs an intermediary, because none of us can connect directly to a godhead
[Novalis]
|
19577
|
Everything is a chaotic unity, then we abstract, then we reunify the world into a free alliance
[Novalis]
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19578
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Only self-illuminated perfect individuals are beautiful
[Novalis]
|
19590
|
Empiricists are passive thinkers, given their philosophy by the external world and fate
[Novalis]
|
19589
|
The whole point of a monarch is that we accept them as a higher-born, ideal person
[Novalis]
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