Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Fragments on My Philosophical Development' and '26: Oracles in Decline'

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4 ideas

11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / a. Idealism

5958	The sun is always bright; it doesn't become bright when it emerges [Plutarch]
	Full Idea: The sun doesn't become bright when it emerges from the clouds; it always is bright.
	From: Plutarch (26: Oracles in Decline [c.85], §39)
	A reaction: Not an argument, but a nice appeal to common sense, like Russell's example of the cat that disappears behind the furniture and then reappears. To disagree with Plutarch here strikes me as the road to philosophical absurdity.

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / i. Absolute virtues

19458	Egoism is the only evil, love the only good; genuine love produces all the other virtues [Feuerbach]
	Full Idea: There is only one evil - egoism; there is only one good - love. ...Love, but truly! All other virtues will automatically come to you.
	From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Fragments on My Philosophical Development [1839], 1834-6)
	A reaction: This is a rather Christian idea of virtue, coming from the great atheist. Does tough love come from love?

25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / b. Education principles

13304	Learned men gain more in one day than others do in a lifetime [Posidonius]
	Full Idea: In a single day there lies open to men of learning more than there ever does to the unenlightened in the longest of lifetimes.
	From: Posidonius (fragments/reports [c.95 BCE]), quoted by Seneca the Younger - Letters from a Stoic 078
	A reaction: These remarks endorsing the infinite superiority of the educated to the uneducated seem to have been popular in late antiquity. It tends to be the religions which discourage great learning, especially in their emphasis on a single book.

27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / d. Time as measure

20820	Time is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed [Posidonius, by Stobaeus]
	Full Idea: Posidonius defined time thus: it is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed and slowness.
	From: report of Posidonius (fragments/reports [c.95 BCE]) by John Stobaeus - Anthology 1.08.42
	A reaction: Hm. Can we define motion or speed without alluding to time? Looks like we have to define them as a conjoined pair, which means we cannot fully understand either of them.