more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 5891

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / e. Philosophy as reason ]

Full Idea

Philosophy consists in the collection of rational arguments. [Philosophia ex rationum collatione constet]

Gist of Idea

Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments

Source

M. Tullius Cicero (Tusculan Disputations [c.44 BCE], IV.xxxviii.84)

Book Ref

Cicero: 'Tusculan Disputations', ed/tr. King,J.E. [Harvard Loeb 1927], p.423


A Reaction

A nice epigraph for this database. Philosophy is, I trust, a little more than that, because you don't just hide them away in a drawer. But if you arrange them nicely in a museum (a website, for example), not a lot more can be done.

Related Idea

Idea 19241 An idea on its own isn't an idea, because they are continuous systems [Peirce]


The 10 ideas from 'Tusculan Disputations'

The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath [Cicero]
How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations? [Cicero]
The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish [Cicero]
Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls [Cicero]
Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things [Cicero]
We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it [Cicero]
Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments [Cicero]
A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience [Cicero]
All men except philosophers fear poverty [Cicero]
If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero]