127 ideas
2196 | The observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy [Hume] |
12274 | Begin examination with basics, and subdivide till you can go no further [Aristotle] |
2187 | If we suspect that a philosophical term is meaningless, we should ask what impression it derives from [Hume] |
2200 | All experimental conclusions assume that the future will be like the past [Hume] |
12260 | Dialectic starts from generally accepted opinions [Aristotle] |
12291 | There can't be one definition of two things, or two definitions of the same thing [Aristotle] |
12292 | Definitions are easily destroyed, since they can contain very many assertions [Aristotle] |
12261 | Differentia are generic, and belong with genus [Aristotle] |
12263 | 'Genus' is part of the essence shared among several things [Aristotle] |
12272 | We describe the essence of a particular thing by means of its differentiae [Aristotle] |
12279 | The differentia indicate the qualities, but not the essence [Aristotle] |
12283 | In definitions the first term to be assigned ought to be the genus [Aristotle] |
12289 | The genera and the differentiae are part of the essence [Aristotle] |
12285 | The definition is peculiar to one thing, not common to many [Aristotle] |
4636 | All reasoning concerning matters of fact is based on analogy (with similar results of similar causes) [Hume] |
11261 | Puzzles arise when reasoning seems equal on both sides [Aristotle] |
12273 | Unit is the starting point of number [Aristotle] |
2197 | Reason assists experience in discovering laws, and in measuring their application [Hume] |
7700 | We can't think about the abstract idea of triangles, but only of particular triangles [Hume] |
12267 | There are ten categories: essence, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, activity, passivity [Aristotle] |
12282 | An individual property has to exist (in past, present or future) [Aristotle] |
12264 | An 'accident' is something which may possibly either belong or not belong to a thing [Aristotle] |
13602 | We cannot form an idea of a 'power', and the word is without meaning [Hume] |
12280 | Genus gives the essence better than the differentiae do [Aristotle] |
13269 | In the case of a house the parts can exist without the whole, so parts are not the whole [Aristotle] |
12284 | Everything that is has one single essence [Aristotle] |
12262 | An 'idion' belongs uniquely to a thing, but is not part of its essence [Aristotle] |
12290 | Destruction is dissolution of essence [Aristotle] |
12286 | If two things are the same, they must have the same source and origin [Aristotle] |
12266 | 'Same' is mainly for names or definitions, but also for propria, and for accidents [Aristotle] |
12287 | Two identical things have the same accidents, they are the same; if the accidents differ, they're different [Aristotle] |
12288 | Numerical sameness and generic sameness are not the same [Aristotle] |
12259 | Reasoning is when some results follow necessarily from certain claims [Aristotle] |
2216 | We transfer the frequency of past observations to our future predictions [Hume] |
2215 | There is no such thing as chance [Hume] |
2209 | Belief is stronger, clearer and steadier than imagination [Hume] |
2207 | Belief can't be a concept plus an idea, or we could add the idea to fictions [Hume] |
2208 | Belief is just a particular feeling attached to ideas of objects [Hume] |
3661 | 'Natural beliefs' are unavoidable, whatever our judgements [Hume, by Strawson,G] |
2213 | Beliefs are built up by resemblance, contiguity and causation [Hume] |
2191 | Relations of ideas are known by thought, independently from the world [Hume] |
2239 | If secondary qualities (e.g. hardness) are in the mind, so are primary qualities like extension [Hume] |
2237 | It never occurs to people that they only experience representations, not the real objects [Hume] |
2190 | All objects of enquiry are Relations of Ideas, or Matters of Fact [Hume] |
2192 | All reasoning about facts is causal; nothing else goes beyond memory and senses [Hume] |
23631 | Hume is loose when he says perceptions of different strength are different species [Reid on Hume] |
2184 | All ideas are copies of impressions [Hume] |
2182 | Impressions are our livelier perceptions, Ideas the less lively ones [Hume] |
2246 | If books don't relate ideas or explain facts, commit them to the flames [Hume] |
2189 | All ideas are connected by Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause and Effect [Hume] |
2194 | How could Adam predict he would drown in water or burn in fire? [Hume] |
2183 | We can only invent a golden mountain by combining experiences [Hume] |
2186 | We cannot form the idea of something we haven't experienced [Hume] |
2702 | Only madmen dispute the authority of experience [Hume] |
2205 | You couldn't reason at all if you lacked experience [Hume] |
2217 | When definitions are pushed to the limit, only experience can make them precise [Hume] |
3902 | Hume mistakenly lumps sensations and perceptions together as 'impressions' [Scruton on Hume] |
23421 | If a person had a gap in their experience of blue shades, they could imaginatively fill it in [Hume] |
2206 | Reasons for belief must eventually terminate in experience, or they are without foundation [Hume] |
2235 | There is no certain supreme principle, or infallible rule of inference [Hume] |
10328 | We think testimony matches reality because of experience, not some a priori connection [Hume] |
2230 | Good testimony needs education, integrity, motive and agreement [Hume, by PG] |
2238 | Reason can never show that experiences are connected to external objects [Hume] |
2242 | Mitigated scepticism draws attention to the limitations of human reason, and encourages modesty [Hume] |
2243 | Mitigated scepticism sensibly confines our enquiries to the narrow capacity of human understanding [Hume] |
2236 | Examples of illusion only show that sense experience needs correction by reason [Hume] |
2241 | The main objection to scepticism is that no good can come of it [Hume] |
2240 | It is a very extravagant aim of the sceptics to destroy reason and argument by means of reason and argument [Hume] |
12271 | Induction is the progress from particulars to universals [Aristotle] |
2198 | We assume similar secret powers behind similar experiences, such as the nourishment of bread [Hume] |
2199 | Reason cannot show why reliable past experience should extend to future times and remote places [Hume] |
12293 | We say 'so in cases of this kind', but how do you decide what is 'of this kind'? [Aristotle] |
2203 | If we infer causes from repetition, this explains why we infer from a thousand objects what we couldn't infer from one [Hume] |
2201 | Induction can't prove that the future will be like the past, since induction assumes this [Hume] |
2202 | Fools, children and animals all learn from experience [Hume] |
2204 | All inferences from experience are effects of custom, not reasoning [Hume] |
6350 | Premises can support an argument without entailing it [Pollock/Cruz on Hume] |
3598 | Hume just shows induction isn't deduction [Williams,M on Hume] |
17712 | General ideas are the connection by resemblance to some particular [Hume] |
2210 | A picture of a friend strengthens our idea of him, by resemblance [Hume] |
8544 | Hume does not distinguish real resemblances among degrees of resemblance [Shoemaker on Hume] |
2211 | When I am close to (contiguous with) home, I feel its presence more nearly [Hume] |
2214 | Our awareness of patterns of causation is too important to be left to slow and uncertain reasoning [Hume] |
2212 | An object made by a saint is the best way to produce thoughts of him [Hume] |
2222 | The doctrine of free will arises from a false sensation we have of freedom in many actions [Hume] |
2223 | Liberty is merely acting according to the will, which anyone can do if they are not in chains [Hume] |
3655 | Hume makes determinism less rigid by removing the necessity from causation [Trusted on Hume] |
2220 | Only experience teaches us about our wills [Hume] |
2224 | Praise and blame can only be given if an action proceeds from a person's character and disposition [Hume] |
2225 | If you deny all necessity and causation, then our character is not responsible for our crime [Hume] |
2226 | Repentance gets rid of guilt, which shows that responsibility arose from the criminal principles in the mind [Hume] |
12276 | Justice and self-control are better than courage, because they are always useful [Aristotle] |
12277 | Friendship is preferable to money, since its excess is preferable [Aristotle] |
12275 | We value friendship just for its own sake [Aristotle] |
12281 | Man is intrinsically a civilized animal [Aristotle] |
2233 | No government has ever suffered by being too tolerant of philosophy [Hume] |
2195 | We can discover some laws of nature, but never its ultimate principles and causes [Hume] |
12265 | All water is the same, because of a certain similarity [Aristotle] |
4772 | If a singular effect is studied, its cause can only be inferred from the types of events involved [Hume] |
2245 | A priori it looks as if a cause could have absolutely any effect [Hume] |
8341 | Hume never even suggests that there is no such thing as causation [Hume, by Strawson,G] |
8344 | At first Hume said qualities are the causal entities, but later he said events [Hume, by Davidson] |
2193 | No causes can be known a priori, but only from experience of constant conjunctions [Hume] |
4771 | In both of Hume's definitions, causation is extrinsic to the sequence of events [Psillos on Hume] |
5194 | Hume's definition of cause as constantly joined thoughts can't cover undiscovered laws [Ayer on Hume] |
2221 | A cause is either similar events following one another, or an experience always suggesting a second experience [Hume] |
2234 | It is only when two species of thing are constantly conjoined that we can infer one from the other [Hume] |
3662 | Hume says we can only know constant conjunctions, not that that's what causation IS [Hume, by Strawson,G] |
8422 | Cause is where if the first object had not been, the second had not existed [Hume] |
2218 | In observing causes we can never observe any necessary connections or binding qualities [Hume] |
15249 | Hume never shows how a strong habit could generate the concept of necessity [Harré/Madden on Hume] |
8339 | Hume's regularity theory of causation is epistemological; he believed in some sort of natural necessity [Hume, by Strawson,G] |
2244 | It can never be a logical contradiction to assert the non-existence of something thought to exist [Hume] |
12278 | 'Being' and 'oneness' are predicated of everything which exists [Aristotle] |
2232 | You can't infer the cause to be any greater than its effect [Hume] |
21332 | We don't get a love of 'order' from nature - which is thoroughly chaotic [Mill] |
2228 | All experience must be against a supposed miracle, or it wouldn't be called 'a miracle' [Hume] |
2229 | To establish a miracle the falseness of the evidence must be a greater miracle than the claimed miraculous event [Hume] |
2227 | A miracle violates laws which have been established by continuous unchanging experience, so should be ignored [Hume] |
2185 | The idea of an infinite, intelligent, wise and good God arises from augmenting the best qualities of our own minds [Hume] |
21333 | Evil comes from good just as often as good comes from evil [Mill] |
21335 | Belief that an afterlife is required for justice is an admission that this life is very unjust [Mill] |
21334 | No necessity ties an omnipotent Creator, so he evidently wills human misery [Mill] |
21329 | Nature dispenses cruelty with no concern for either mercy or justice [Mill] |
21328 | Killing is a human crime, but nature kills everyone, and often with great tortures [Mill] |
21330 | Nature makes childbirth a miserable experience, often leading to the death of the mother [Mill] |
21331 | Hurricanes, locusts, floods and blight can starve a million people to death [Mill] |