6 ideas
12270 | Being is one [Melissus, by Aristotle] |
Full Idea: Being is one. | |
From: report of Melissus (fragments/reports [c.443 BCE]) by Aristotle - Topics 104b23 | |
A reaction: I can only really understand this in terms of physics, as the belief that ultimately there is one simple theory which explains everything. That project doesn't look terribly promising, despite the lovely simplifications of modern physics. |
7903 | The six perfections are giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, and wisdom [Nagarjuna] |
Full Idea: The six perfections are of giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, and wisdom. | |
From: Nagarjuna (Mahaprajnaparamitashastra [c.120], 88) | |
A reaction: What is 'morality', if giving is not part of it? I like patience and vigour being two of the virtues, which immediately implies an Aristotelian mean (which is always what is 'appropriate'). |
21996 | Freedom only comes when labour is no longer necessary [Marx] |
Full Idea: The realm of freedom actually begins only where labour which is determined by necessity and mundane considerations ceases. | |
From: Karl Marx (Capital Vol. 3 [1873], p.496), quoted by Peter Singer - Marx 8 | |
A reaction: This is a bit discouraging fo idealistic dreamers. Modern political thought needs an ecological dimension to this problem. If society always needs a fair degree of labour, there must be a way to maximise freedom in that context. |
3059 | There is no real motion, only the appearance of it [Melissus, by Diog. Laertius] |
Full Idea: There is no such thing as real motion, but there only appears to be such. | |
From: report of Melissus (fragments/reports [c.443 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.4.3 |
5100 | The void is not required for change, because a plenum can alter in quality [Aristotle on Melissus] |
Full Idea: There is no need for void to be the cause of all change, because it is perfectly possible for a plenum to alter qualitatively (which is something Melissus overlooked). | |
From: comment on Melissus (fragments/reports [c.443 BCE]) by Aristotle - Physics 214a27 | |
A reaction: In modern physics this presumably gives us fluctuations in a force field. Motion is like a cat being digested by a python. The atomist claim that emptiness is needed if anything is to move still has intuitive appeal. |
456 | Nothing could come out of nothing [Melissus] |
Full Idea: If Nothing existed, in no way could anything come into being out of nothing. | |
From: Melissus (fragments/reports [c.443 BCE], B1), quoted by (who?) - where? |