Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Sign of Four', 'Political Liberalism' and 'Laches'

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5 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 3. Wisdom Deflated

291	Don't assume that wisdom is the automatic consequence of old age [Plato]
	Full Idea: Don't assume that wisdom is the automatic consequence of old age.
	From: Plato (Laches [c.381 BCE], 188b)
	A reaction: I have taught teenagers who seemed to me wiser than nearly all the adults I have ever met.

14. Science / C. Induction / 1. Induction

22200	If you eliminate the impossible, the truth will remain, even if it is weird [Conan Doyle]
	Full Idea: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
	From: Arthur Conan Doyle (The Sign of Four [1890], Ch. 6)
	A reaction: A beautiful statement, by Sherlock Holmes, of Eliminative Induction. It is obviously not true, of course. Many options may still face you after you have eliminated what is actually impossible.

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / d. Courage

293	Being unafraid (perhaps through ignorance) and being brave are two different things [Plato]
	Full Idea: To be unafraid (like a small child who doesn't understand the danger) and to be brave are two quite different things.
	From: Plato (Laches [c.381 BCE], 197b)

23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 3. Universalisability

21051	Check your rationality by thinking of your opinion pronounced by the supreme court [Rawls]
	Full Idea: To check whether we are following public reason we might ask: how would our argument strike us presented in the form of a supreme court opinion?
	From: John Rawls (Political Liberalism [1993], p.254), quoted by Michael J. Sandel - Justice: What's the right thing to do? 10
	A reaction: A very nice practical implementation of Kantian universalisability. How would your opinion sound if it were written into a constitution?

24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract

21119	Power is only legitimate if it is reasonable for free equal citizens to endorse the constitution [Rawls]
	Full Idea: Exercise of political power is fully proper only when it is exercised in accordance with a constitution the essentials of which all citizens as free and equal may reasonably be expected to endorse in light of principles and ideals acceptable to reason.
	From: John Rawls (Political Liberalism [1993], p.217), quoted by Andrew Shorten - Contemporary Political Theory 02
	A reaction: This is not the actual endorsement of Rousseau, or the tacit endorsement of Locke (by living there), but adds a Kantian appeal to a rational consensus, on which rational people should converge. Very Enlightenment. 'Hypothetical consent'.