Combining Texts

Ideas for 'The Sayings of Confucius', 'Either/Or: a fragment of life' and 'Philosophy of Mathematics'

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8 ideas

23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 2. Golden Rule
7360 Do not do to others what you would not desire yourself [Kongzi (Confucius)]
     Full Idea: Do not do to others what you would not desire yourself. Then you will have no enemies, either in the state or in your home.
     From: Kongzi (Confucius) (The Analects (Lunyu) [c.511 BCE], XII.2)
     A reaction: The Golden Rule, but note the second sentence. Logically, it leads to the absurdity of not giving someone an Elvis record for Christmas because you yourself don't like Elvis. Kant (Idea 3733) and Nietzsche (Idea 4560) offer good criticisms.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / f. The Mean
7359 Excess and deficiency are equally at fault [Kongzi (Confucius)]
     Full Idea: Excess and deficiency are equally at fault.
     From: Kongzi (Confucius) (The Analects (Lunyu) [c.511 BCE], XI.16)
     A reaction: This is the sort of wisdom we admire in Aristotle (and in any sensible person), but it may also be the deepest motto of conservatism, and it is a long way from romantic philosophy, and the clarion call of Nietzsche to greater excitement in life.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues
7363 The virtues of the best people are humility, maganimity, sincerity, diligence, and graciousness [Kongzi (Confucius)]
     Full Idea: He who in this world can practise five things may indeed be considered Man-at-his-best: humility, maganimity, sincerity, diligence, and graciousness.
     From: Kongzi (Confucius) (The Analects (Lunyu) [c.511 BCE], XVII.5)
     A reaction: A very nice list. Who could resist working with a colleague who had such virtues? Who could go wrong if they married a person who had them? I can't think of anything important that is missing.
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 2. Nihilism
22090 For me time stands still, and I with it [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
     Full Idea: Time flows, life is a stream, people say, and so on. I do not notice it. Time stands still, and I with it.
     From: report of Søren Kierkegaard (Either/Or: a fragment of life [1843], I:26) by Clare Carlisle - Kierkegaard: a guide for the perplexed 3
     A reaction: This is from the spokesman for the aesthetic option in life, which is largely pleasure-seeking. No real choices ever occur.
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 4. Boredom
9305 The plebeians bore others; only the nobility bore themselves [Kierkegaard]
     Full Idea: Those who bore others are the plebeians, the crowd, the endless train of humanity in general; those who bore themselves are the chosen ones, the nobility.
     From: Søren Kierkegaard (Either/Or: a fragment of life [1843], Pt.1), quoted by Lars Svendsen - A Philosophy of Boredom Ch.2
     A reaction: [p.288 in Princeton Edn] Stunningly elitist, but ask where boredom is most overtly found. "Boring" was once a very fashionable word among the English upper classes. Education and wealth seem to intensify boredom.
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 5. Existence-Essence
5650 Reason is just abstractions, so our essence needs a subjective 'leap of faith' [Kierkegaard, by Scruton]
     Full Idea: For Kierkegaard, reason, which produces only abstractions, negates our individual essence; this essence is subjectivity, and subjectivity exists only in the 'leap of faith', whereby the individual casts in his lot with eternity.
     From: report of Søren Kierkegaard (Either/Or: a fragment of life [1843]) by Roger Scruton - Short History of Modern Philosophy Ch.13
     A reaction: Interesting, but this strikes me as a confusion of reason and logic. A logical life would indeed be a sort of death, and need faith as an escape, but a broad view of the rational life includes emotion, imagination and laughter. Blind faith is disaster.
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self
22095 There are aesthetic, ethical and religious subjectivity [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
     Full Idea: Kierkegaard distinguishes three main types of subjectivity: aesthetic, ethical and religious. But are these types of people, or different phases of one person's life?
     From: report of Søren Kierkegaard (Either/Or: a fragment of life [1843]) by Clare Carlisle - Kierkegaard: a guide for the perplexed 4
     A reaction: His picture of the religious mode holds no appeal for me. I also can't accept that the aesthetic and the moral are somewho distinct. People may discover they have slipped into one of these modes, but no one chooses them, do they?
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 7. Existential Action
20747 What matters is not right choice, but energy, earnestness and pathos in the choosing [Kierkegaard]
     Full Idea: In making a choice, it is not so much a question of choosing the right way as of the energy, the earnestness, and the pathos with which one chooses.
     From: Søren Kierkegaard (Either/Or: a fragment of life [1843], p.106), quoted by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 2 'Phenomenology'
     A reaction: I'm struggling to identify with the experience he is describing. I can't imagine a more quintessentially existentialist remark than this. Reference to 'energy' in choosing strikes me as very romantic. Is 'the way not taken' crucial (in 'pathos')?