41 ideas
125 | Is a gifted philosopher unmanly if he avoids the strife of the communal world? [Plato] |
6675 | The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing [Pascal] |
1654 | In "Gorgias" Socrates is confident that his 'elenchus' will decide moral truth [Vlastos on Plato] |
4321 | We should test one another, by asking and answering questions [Plato] |
13007 | Archimedes defined a straight line as the shortest distance between two points [Archimedes, by Leibniz] |
22011 | The first principles of truth are not rational, but are known by the heart [Pascal] |
6681 | We only want to know things so that we can talk about them [Pascal] |
114 | Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong [Plato] |
116 | Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends [Plato] |
135 | All activity aims at the good [Plato] |
6676 | Painting makes us admire things of which we do not admire the originals [Pascal] |
122 | Moral rules are made by the weak members of humanity [Plato] |
6680 | It is a funny sort of justice whose limits are marked by a river [Pascal] |
6677 | Imagination creates beauty, justice and happiness, which is the supreme good [Pascal] |
139 | A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato] |
128 | Is it natural to simply indulge our selfish desires? [Plato] |
4322 | In slaking our thirst the goodness of the action and the pleasure are clearly separate [Plato] |
136 | Good should be the aim of pleasant activity, not the other way round [Plato] |
6678 | We live for the past or future, and so are never happy in the present [Pascal] |
134 | Good and bad people seem to experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain [Plato] |
132 | If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness [Plato] |
4319 | In a fool's mind desire is like a leaky jar, insatiable in its desires, and order and contentment are better [Plato] |
130 | Is the happiest state one of sensual, self-indulgent freedom? [Plato] |
120 | Should we avoid evil because it will bring us bad consequences? [Plato] |
118 | I would rather be a victim of crime than a criminal [Plato] |
131 | If absence of desire is happiness, then nothing is happier than a stone or a corpse [Plato] |
140 | Self-indulgent desire makes friendship impossible, because it makes a person incapable of co-operation [Plato] |
119 | A criminal is worse off if he avoids punishment [Plato] |
129 | Do most people praise self-discipline and justice because they are too timid to gain their own pleasure? [Plato] |
4320 | The popular view is that health is first, good looks second, and honest wealth third [Plato] |
20732 | If man considers himself as lost and imprisoned in the universe, he will be terrified [Pascal] |
137 | As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato] |
6682 | Majority opinion is visible and authoritative, although not very clever [Pascal] |
141 | A good citizen won't be passive, but will redirect the needs of the state [Plato] |
6679 | It is not good to be too free [Pascal] |
123 | Do most people like equality because they are second-rate? [Plato] |
124 | Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits? [Plato] |
7455 | Pascal knows you can't force belief, but you can make it much more probable [Pascal, by Hacking] |
7457 | Pascal is right, but relies on the unsupported claim of a half as the chance of God's existence [Hacking on Pascal] |
7456 | The libertine would lose a life of enjoyable sin if he chose the cloisters [Hacking on Pascal] |
6684 | If you win the wager on God's existence you win everything, if you lose you lose nothing [Pascal] |