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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Theses on Feuerbach' and 'Nicomachean Ethics'

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2 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / a. Philosophy as worldly

5300	Philosophers have interpreted the world, but the point is to change it [Marx]
	Full Idea: The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.
	From: Karl Marx (Theses on Feuerbach [1846], §XI)
	A reaction: The 'point' of what? Personally I am more with Aristotle - that the aim is to create a society in which we can all aspire to contemplate like gods. As an interim statement of aim, though, one must respect Marx. But was he a philosopher?

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy

112	Most people are readier to submit to compulsion than to argument [Aristotle]
	Full Idea: Most people are readier to submit to compulsion and punishment than to argument and fine ideals.
	From: Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1180a05)
	A reaction: How perceptively pessimistic. We must hope that the picture has changed now that we have fairly universal education. Some people may submit to argument, but NOT to fine ideals.