Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Through the Looking Glass', 'plays (frags)' and 'Of the First Principles of Government'

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4 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / e. Being and nothing
21982 I only wish I had such eyes as to see Nobody! It's as much as I can do to see real people. [Carroll,L]
     Full Idea: "I see nobody on the road," said Alice. - "I only wish I had such eyes," the King remarked. ..."To be able to see Nobody! ...Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people."
     From: Lewis Carroll (C.Dodgson) (Through the Looking Glass [1886], p.189), quoted by A.W. Moore - The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics 07.7
     A reaction: [Moore quotes this, inevitably, in a chapter on Hegel] This may be a better candidate for the birth of philosophy of language than Frege's Groundwork.
10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 2. Necessity as Primitive
74 Even God could not undo what has been done [Agathon]
     Full Idea: One thing is denied even to God: to make what has been done undone again.
     From: Agathon (plays (frags) [c.410 BCE]), quoted by Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics 1139b09
     A reaction: a quotation - cf the Euthyphro Question
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
21094 There are two kinds of right - to power, and to property [Hume]
     Full Idea: Right is of two kinds: right to power and right to property.
     From: David Hume (Of the First Principles of Government [1750], p.25)
     A reaction: These seem to be positive rights. No mention of the right not be to unjustly abused. It is hard to find any sort of radical political thinking in Hume. His empirical scepticism extends to his politics. He approves of modern consitutional monarchy.
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights
21095 It is an exaggeration to say that property is the foundation of all government [Hume]
     Full Idea: A noted author has made property the foundation of all government; and most of our political writers seem inclined to follow him in that particular. This is carrying the matter too far.
     From: David Hume (Of the First Principles of Government [1750], p.25)
     A reaction: This obviously refers to John Locke. Locke's idea strikes me as hideous. It says the foundation of government is the right of property owners to protect what they have against non-owners. It implies social exclusion in the constitution.