Combining Texts

Ideas for 'works', 'Ecce Homo' and 'De Cive'

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3 ideas

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal [Aristotle, by Fogelin]
     Full Idea: To the best of my knowledge (and somewhat to my surprise), Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal; however, he all but says it.
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.1
     A reaction: When I read this I thought that this database would prove Fogelin wrong, but it actually supports him, as I can't find it in Aristotle either. Descartes refers to it in Med.Two. In Idea 5133 Aristotle does say that man is a 'social being'. But 22586!
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / i. Self-interest
The distinction between egoistic and non-egoistic acts is absurd [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: There are neither egoistic nor unegoistic actions: both concepts are psychologically nonsense.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Ecce Homo [1889], 4.5)
     A reaction: Not quite true, but I like this observation. The idea that you could divide everyone's actions into these two groups is certainly nonsense. But some people are more altruistic than others!
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / i. Moral luck
A bad result distorts one's judgement about the virtue of what one has done [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: I should prefer to exclude the bad result, the consequences, from the question of value as a matter of principle. Faced with a bad result, one loses all too easily the right perspective for what one has done.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Ecce Homo [1889], Clever §1)
     A reaction: If the perspective is easily lost, we should make more effort, not ignore consequences. The question is whether you could have foreseen or controlled the consequences.