10 ideas
9271 | Human knowledge may not produce well-being; the examined life may not be worth living [Gray] |
Full Idea: Human knowledge is one thing, human well-being another. There is no predetermined harmony between the two. The examined life may not be worth living. | |
From: John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 1.9) | |
A reaction: John Gray has set himself up as the Eeyore of modern times, but this point may obviously be correct. Presumably Socrates meant that the examined life was better even if the result was less 'well-being'. Even Gray doesn't want a lobotomy. |
21959 | Metaphysics is the most general attempt to make sense of things [Moore,AW] |
Full Idea: Metaphysics is the most general attempt to make sense of things. | |
From: A.W. Moore (The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics [2012], Intro) | |
A reaction: This is the first sentence of Moore's book, and a touchstone idea all the way through. It stands up well, because it says enough without committing to too much. I have to agree with it. It implies explanation as the key. I like generality too. |
21958 | Appearances are nothing beyond representations, which is transcendental ideality [Moore,AW] |
Full Idea: Appearances in general are nothing outside our representations, which is just what we mean by transcendental ideality. | |
From: A.W. Moore (The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics [2012], B535/A507) |
9275 | Knowledge does not need minds or nervous systems; it is found in all living things [Gray] |
Full Idea: Knowledge does not need minds, or even nervous systems. It is found in all living things. | |
From: John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 2.10) | |
A reaction: I consider it a misnomer to call such things 'knowledge', for which I have much higher standards. Gray is talking about 'information'. Knowledge needs reasons, and possibility of error, not just anticipatory behaviour. |
9276 | The will hardly ever does anything; most of our life just happens to us [Gray] |
Full Idea: We think our actions express our decisions, but in nearly all of our life, willing decides nothing. We cannot wake up or fall asleep, remember or forget our dreams, summon or banish our thoughts, by deciding to do so. | |
From: John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 2.12) | |
A reaction: Gray's point does not rule out occasional total control over mental life, but his point is important. The traditional picture is of a life controlled, so the will is seen as at the centre of a person, but it just isn't the case. |
21058 | Enlightenment requires the free use of reason in the public realm [Kant] |
Full Idea: The public use of man's reason must always be free, and it alone can bring about enlightenment among men; the private use of reason may quite often be very narrowly restricted (…in a particular civil post or office). | |
From: Immanuel Kant (Answer to 'What is Enlightenment?' [1784], p.55) | |
A reaction: The private aspect seems to be the common restriction on speech by employees of the state. Does free speech have only instrumental value? Is the life of virtue possible without it? |
9278 | Nowadays we identify the free life with the good life [Gray] |
Full Idea: We do not value freedom more than people did in earlier times, but we have identified the good life with the chosen life. | |
From: John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 3.13) | |
A reaction: Interesting. This is Enlightenment liberalism gradually filtering down into common consciousness, especially via the hegemony of American culture. I sympathise the Gray; don't get me wrong, but I think freedom is overrated. |
9280 | Over forty percent of the Earth's living tissue is human [Gray] |
Full Idea: Humans co-opt over forty per cent of the Earth's living tissue. | |
From: John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 4.15) | |
A reaction: If you add our domestic animals, I understand that the figure goes up to 95 per cent! I take this to be virtually the only significant ecological fact - population, population, population. Why are there so many cars? So many carbon footprints? |
9272 | Without Christianity we lose the idea that human history has a meaning [Gray] |
Full Idea: For Christians, it is because they occur in history that the lives of humans have a meaning that the lives of other animals do not. ..If we truly leave Christianity behind, we must give up the idea that human history has a meaning. | |
From: John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 2.3) | |
A reaction: Interesting. Compare the dispute between 'whig' and 'tory' historians, the former of whom believe that history is going somewhere. |
9279 | What was our original sin, and how could Christ's suffering redeem it? [Gray] |
Full Idea: No one can say what was humankind's original sin, and no one understands how the suffering of Christ can redeem it. | |
From: John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 4.1) | |
A reaction: This nicely articulates a problem that has half bothered me, but I have never put into words. I always assumed Eve committed the sin, and Adam cops the blame for not controlling his woman. Dying for our sins has always puzzled me. |