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Single Idea 19599
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 1. History of Ideas
]
Full Idea
In itself, every idea is neutral, or should be; but man animates ideas, projects his flames and flaws into them.
Gist of Idea
Ideas are neutral, but people fill them with passion and weakness
Source
E.M. Cioran (A Short History of Decay [1949], 1 'Genealogy')
Book Ref
Cioran,E.M.: 'A Short History of Decay', ed/tr. Howard,Richard [Penguin 2010], p.3
A Reaction
If it isn't neutral (if, say, it expresses love or hatred) then presumably it doesn't qualify as an 'idea'. Are ideas as neutral as mathematical theorems. It's a nice remark, and a good epigraph for a book on the history of ideas.
The
47 ideas
from 'A Short History of Decay'
19627
|
Opportunists can save a nation, and heroes can ruin it
[Cioran]
|
19622
|
The pointlessness of our motives and irrelevance of our gestures reveals our vacuity
[Cioran]
|
19602
|
You are stuck in the past if you don't know boredom
[Cioran]
|
19619
|
To live authentically, we must see that philosophy is totally useless
[Cioran]
|
19618
|
I abandoned philosophy because it didn't acknowledge melancholy and human weakness
[Cioran]
|
19621
|
Originality in philosophy is just the invention of terms
[Cioran]
|
19620
|
Great systems of philosophy are just brilliant tautologies
[Cioran]
|
19624
|
Intelligence only fully flourishes at the end of a historical period
[Cioran]
|
19625
|
The ideal is to impose a religion by force, and then live in doubt about its beliefs
[Cioran]
|
19615
|
I want to suppress in myself the normal reasons people have for action
[Cioran]
|
19614
|
Lovers are hateful, apart from their hovering awareness of death
[Cioran]
|
19599
|
Ideas are neutral, but people fill them with passion and weakness
[Cioran]
|
19600
|
When man abandons religion, he then follows new fake gods and mythologies
[Cioran]
|
19623
|
Circles of hell are ridiculous; all that matters is to be there
[Cioran]
|
19616
|
As the perfect wisdom of detachment, philosophy offers no rivals to Taoism
[Cioran]
|
19617
|
Evidence suggests that humans do not have a purpose
[Cioran]
|
19610
|
Religions see suicide as insubordination
[Cioran]
|
19611
|
No one has ever found a good argument against suicide
[Cioran]
|
19626
|
Our instincts had to be blunted and diminished, to make way for consciousness!
[Cioran]
|
19603
|
Why is God so boring, and why does God resemble humanity so little?
[Cioran]
|
19605
|
Despite endless suggestions, no one has found a goal for history
[Cioran]
|
19604
|
Unlike other creatures, mankind seems lost in nature
[Cioran]
|
19606
|
We can only live because our imagination and memory are poor
[Cioran]
|
19612
|
The universe is dirty and fragile, as if a scandal in nothingness had produced its matter
[Cioran]
|
19613
|
It is pointless to refuse or accept the social order; we must endure it like the weather
[Cioran]
|
19608
|
Wisdom is just the last gasp of a dying civilization
[Cioran]
|
19601
|
Life is now more dreaded than death
[Cioran]
|
19609
|
If you have not contemplated suicide, you are a miserable worm
[Cioran]
|
19628
|
At a civilisation's peak values are all that matters, and people unconsciously live by them
[Cioran]
|
19632
|
An axiom has no more authority than a frenzy
[Cioran]
|
19633
|
We use concepts to master our fears; saying 'death' releases us from confronting it
[Cioran]
|
19629
|
A nation gives expression to its sum of values, and is then exhausted
[Cioran]
|
19631
|
The history of ideas (and deeds) occurs in a meaningless environment
[Cioran]
|
19630
|
No great idea ever emerged from a dialogue
[Cioran]
|
19634
|
Man is never himself; he always aims at less than life, or more than life
[Cioran]
|
19636
|
Truth is just an error insufficiently experienced
[Cioran]
|
19637
|
History is wonderfully devoid of meaning
[Cioran]
|
19641
|
If you lack beliefs, boredom is your martyrdom
[Cioran]
|
19640
|
No one is brave enough to say they don't want to do anything; we despise such a view
[Cioran]
|
19645
|
Some thinkers would have been just as dynamic, no matter when they had lived
[Cioran]
|
19638
|
Metaphysics is a universalisation of physical anguish
[Cioran]
|
19642
|
Eventually every 'truth' is guaranteed by the police
[Cioran]
|
19644
|
History is the bloody rejection of boredom
[Cioran]
|
19643
|
A religion needs to motivate killings, and cannot tolerate rivals
[Cioran]
|
19646
|
Values don't accumulate; they are ruthlessly replaced
[Cioran]
|
19639
|
We all need sexual secrets!
[Cioran]
|
19607
|
The mind is superficial, only concerned with the arrangement of events, not their significance
[Cioran]
|