7 ideas
1590 | The just man does not harm his enemies, but benefits everyone [Plato] |
Full Idea: First, Socrates, you told me justice is harming your enemies and helping your friends. But later it seemed that the just man, since everything he does is for someone's benefit, never harms anyone. | |
From: Plato (Clitophon [c.372 BCE], 410b) | |
A reaction: Socrates certainly didn't subscribe to the first view, which is the traditional consensus in Greek culture. In general Socrates agreed with the views later promoted by Jesus. |
20482 | Virtue inspires Stoics, but I want a good temperament [Montaigne] |
Full Idea: What Stoics did from virtue I teach myself to do from temperament. | |
From: Michel de Montaigne (III.10 On Restraining your Will [1580], p.1153) | |
A reaction: I take this to be an Aristotelian criticism of Stoicism. They venerate virtue above everything, but Aristotle says you must integrate virtue into your very being, so that right actions flow from you, with very little need for premeditation. |
20480 | There is not much point in only becoming good near the end of your life [Montaigne] |
Full Idea: It is almost better never to become a good man at all than to do so tardily, understanding how to live when you have no life left. | |
From: Michel de Montaigne (III.10 On Restraining your Will [1580], p.1142) | |
A reaction: A very nice perspective, which I don't recall Aristotle mentioning. It does, though, reinforce Aristotle's belief that early training is essential. |
20481 | Nothing we say can be worse than unsaying it in the face of authority [Montaigne] |
Full Idea: Nothing which a gentleman says can seem worse than the shame of his unsaying it under duress from authority. | |
From: Michel de Montaigne (III.10 On Restraining your Will [1580], p.1153) | |
A reaction: The point is that you have to fight every day for free speech, because no matter what the law says, there are always people in power who want to shut you up. |
20479 | People at home care far more than soldiers risking death about the outcome of wars [Montaigne] |
Full Idea: How many soldiers put themselves at risk every day in wars which they care little about, rushing into danger in battles the loss of which will not make them lose a night's sleep. Meanwhile a man at home is more passionate about the war than the soldier. | |
From: Michel de Montaigne (III.10 On Restraining your Will [1580], p.1139) | |
A reaction: It depends whether you are a mercenary (which the majority probably were in 1680), and what are the implications of defeat. |
1748 | Archelaus was the first person to say that the universe is boundless [Archelaus, by Diog. Laertius] |
Full Idea: Archelaus was the first person to say that the universe is boundless. | |
From: report of Archelaus (fragments/reports [c.450 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 02.Ar.3 |
5989 | Archelaus said life began in a primeval slime [Archelaus, by Schofield] |
Full Idea: Archelaus wrote that life on Earth began in a primeval slime. | |
From: report of Archelaus (fragments/reports [c.450 BCE]) by Malcolm Schofield - Archelaus | |
A reaction: This sounds like a fairly clearcut assertion of the production of life by evolution. Darwin's contribution was to propose the mechanism for achieving it. We should honour the name of Archelaus for this idea. |