210 ideas
19693 | There is practical wisdom (for action), and theoretical wisdom (for deep understanding) [Aristotle, by Whitcomb] |
7504 | Modern science comes from Descartes' view that knowledge doesn't need moral purity [Descartes, by Foucault] |
3722 | Metaphysics goes beyond the empirical, so doesn't need examples [Kant] |
1575 | For Aristotle logos is essentially the ability to talk rationally about questions of value [Roochnik on Aristotle] |
1569 | Descartes impoverished the classical idea of logos, and it no longer covered human experience [Roochnik on Descartes] |
3738 | The hallmark of rationality is setting itself an end [Kant] |
1589 | Aristotle is the supreme optimist about the ability of logos to explain nature [Roochnik on Aristotle] |
2248 | Reason says don't assent to uncertain principles, just as much as totally false ones [Descartes] |
2857 | Since Plato all philosophers have followed the herd, except Descartes, stuck in superficial reason [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
8200 | Aristotelian definitions aim to give the essential properties of the thing defined [Aristotle, by Quine] |
4385 | Aristotelian definition involves first stating the genus, then the differentia of the thing [Aristotle, by Urmson] |
3641 | It is circular to make truth depend on believing God's existence is true [Arnauld on Descartes] |
4524 | Descartes is right that in the Christian view only God can guarantee the reliability of senses [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
2290 | Once it is clear that there is a God who is no deceiver, I conclude that clear and distinct perceptions must be true [Descartes] |
2266 | My general rule is that everything that I perceive clearly and distinctly is true [Descartes] |
4301 | Someone may think a thing is 'clear and distinct', but be wrong [Leibniz on Descartes] |
13282 | Aristotle relativises the notion of wholeness to different measures [Aristotle, by Koslicki] |
10054 | Arithmetic and geometry achieve some certainty without worrying about existence [Descartes] |
4730 | For Aristotle, the subject-predicate structure of Greek reflected a substance-accident structure of reality [Aristotle, by O'Grady] |
2252 | Surely maths is true even if I am dreaming? [Descartes] |
2430 | I can learn the concepts of duration and number just from observing my own thoughts [Descartes] |
2297 | If I can separate two things in my understanding, then God can separate them in reality [Descartes] |
3628 | Substance cannot be conceived or explained to others [Gassendi on Descartes] |
13276 | The unmoved mover and the soul show Aristotelian form as the ultimate mereological atom [Aristotle, by Koslicki] |
13277 | The 'form' is the recipe for building wholes of a particular kind [Aristotle, by Koslicki] |
16631 | If we remove surface qualities from wax, we have an extended, flexible, changeable thing [Descartes] |
17865 | Descartes gives an essence by an encapsulating formula [Descartes, by Almog] |
2301 | We know by thought that what is done cannot be undone [Descartes] |
3642 | Pythagoras' Theorem doesn't cease to be part of the essence of triangles just because we doubt it [Arnauld on Descartes] |
5991 | For Aristotle, knowledge is of causes, and is theoretical, practical or productive [Aristotle, by Code] |
20190 | Belief is not an intellectual state or act, because propositions are affirmed or denied by the will [Descartes, by Zagzebski] |
1585 | Descartes tried to model reason on maths instead of 'logos' [Roochnik on Descartes] |
1582 | Labelling slightly doubtful things as false is irrational [Roochnik on Descartes] |
2256 | Maybe there is only one certain fact, which is that nothing is certain [Descartes] |
6914 | Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist' [Descartes, by Feuerbach] |
4641 | In the Meditations version of the Cogito he says "I am; I exist", which avoids presenting it as an argument [Descartes, by Baggini /Fosl] |
6929 | Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God [Descartes, by Feuerbach] |
3849 | "I think therefore I am" is the absolute truth of consciousness [Sartre on Descartes] |
2258 | I must even exist if I am being deceived by something [Descartes] |
2259 | "I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind [Descartes] |
3160 | The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge [Rey on Descartes] |
2260 | If I don't think, there is no reason to think that I exist [Descartes] |
1117 | The Cogito proves subjective experience is basic, but makes false claims about the Self [Russell on Descartes] |
2873 | Maybe 'I' am not the thinker, but something produced by thought [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
3623 | The Cogito only works if you already understand what thought and existence are [Mersenne on Descartes] |
1369 | It is a precondition of the use of the word 'I' that I exist [Ayer on Descartes] |
5360 | The thing which experiences may be momentary, and change with the next experience [Russell on Descartes] |
2870 | 'I think' assumes I exist, that thinking is known and caused, and that I am doing it [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
5188 | A thought doesn't imply other thoughts, or enough thoughts to make up a self [Ayer on Descartes] |
3624 | That I perform an activity (thinking) doesn't prove what type of thing I am [Hobbes on Descartes] |
3120 | Autistic children seem to use the 'I' concept without seeing themselves as thinkers [Segal on Descartes] |
4526 | The Cogito assumes a priori the existence of substance, when actually it is a grammatical custom [Nietzsche on Descartes] |
5579 | How can we infer that all thinking involves self-consciousness, just from my own case? [Kant on Descartes] |
5580 | My self is not an inference from 'I think', but a presupposition of it [Kant on Descartes] |
5587 | We cannot give any information a priori about the nature of the 'thing that thinks' [Kant on Descartes] |
5588 | The fact that I am a subject is not enough evidence to show that I am a substantial object [Kant on Descartes] |
13923 | Descartes' claim to know his existence before his essence is misleading or absurd [Descartes, by Lowe] |
6930 | Modern self-consciousness is a doubtful abstraction; only senses and feelings are certain [Feuerbach on Descartes] |
2261 | My perceiving of things may be false, but my seeming to perceive them cannot be false [Descartes] |
2257 | I myself could be the author of all these self-delusions [Descartes] |
11239 | The notion of a priori truth is absent in Aristotle [Aristotle, by Politis] |
2279 | A triangle has a separate non-invented nature, shown by my ability to prove facts about it [Descartes] |
3726 | The categorical imperative is a practical synthetic a priori proposition [Kant] |
6490 | For Descartes, objects have one primary quality, which is geometrical [Descartes, by Robinson,H] |
2295 | Why does pain make us sad? [Descartes] |
3627 | Dogs can make the same judgements as us about variable things [Gassendi on Descartes] |
23312 | Aristotle is a rationalist, but reason is slowly acquired through perception and experience [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
2265 | We perceive objects by intellect, not by senses or imagination [Descartes] |
2263 | The wax is not perceived by the senses, but by the mind alone [Descartes] |
2264 | We don't 'see' men in heavy clothes, we judge them to be men [Descartes] |
16111 | Aristotle wants to fit common intuitions, and therefore uses language as a guide [Aristotle, by Gill,ML] |
2247 | To achieve good science we must rebuild from the foundations [Descartes] |
2255 | Only one certainty is needed for progress (like a lever's fulcrum) [Descartes] |
2251 | Even if my body and objects are imaginary, there may be simpler things which are true [Descartes] |
6347 | Descartes can't begin again, because sceptics doubt cognitive processes as well as beliefs [Pollock/Cruz on Descartes] |
2296 | If pain is felt in a lost limb, I cannot be certain that a felt pain exists in my real limbs [Descartes] |
3620 | We correct sense errors with other senses, not intellect [Mersenne on Descartes] |
3619 | The senses can only report, so perception errors are in the judgment [Gassendi on Descartes] |
2249 | It is prudent never to trust your senses if they have deceived you even once [Descartes] |
2253 | God may have created nothing, but made his creation appear to me as it does now [Descartes] |
2254 | To achieve full scepticism, I imagine a devil who deceives me about the external world and my own body and senses [Descartes] |
2305 | Waking actions are joined by memory to all our other actions, unlike actions of which we dream [Descartes] |
2294 | I can only sense an object if it is present, and can't fail to sense it when it is [Descartes] |
16971 | Plato says sciences are unified around Forms; Aristotle says they're unified around substance [Aristotle, by Moravcsik] |
11243 | Aristotelian explanations are facts, while modern explanations depend on human conceptions [Aristotle, by Politis] |
3320 | Aristotle's standard analysis of species and genus involves specifying things in terms of something more general [Aristotle, by Benardete,JA] |
12000 | Aristotle regularly says that essential properties explain other significant properties [Aristotle, by Kung] |
4862 | Can the pineal gland be moved more slowly or quickly by the mind than by animal spirits? [Spinoza on Descartes] |
3850 | We discovers others as well as ourselves in the Cogito [Sartre on Descartes] |
2302 | Faculties of the mind aren't parts, as one mind uses them [Descartes] |
3151 | Descartes put thought at the centre of the mind problem, but we put sensation [Rey on Descartes] |
21800 | Descartes mentions many cognitive faculties, but reduces them to will and intellect [Descartes, by Schmid] |
1399 | Imagination and sensation are non-essential to mind [Descartes] |
1400 | Some cause must unite the separate temporal sections of a person [Descartes] |
1401 | Since I only observe myself to be thinking, I conclude that that is my essence [Descartes] |
2299 | I can exist without imagination and sensing, but they can't exist without me [Descartes] |
6907 | For Descartes a person's essence is the mind because objects are perceived by mind, not senses [Descartes, by Feuerbach] |
2283 | Our 'will' just consists of the feeling that when we are motivated to do something, there are no external pressures [Descartes] |
3739 | Free will is a kind of causality which works independently of other causes [Kant] |
3741 | We shall never be able to comprehend how freedom is possible [Kant] |
3740 | We cannot conceive of reason as being externally controlled [Kant] |
2282 | My capacity to make choices with my free will extends as far as any faculty ever could [Descartes] |
5296 | Kant made the political will into a pure self-determined "free" will [Kant, by Marx/Engels] |
2276 | The mind is a non-extended thing which thinks [Descartes] |
2298 | Mind is not extended, unlike the body [Descartes] |
3423 | Descartes is a substance AND property dualist [Descartes, by Kim] |
2303 | The mind is utterly indivisible [Descartes] |
6153 | Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy [Rowlands on Descartes] |
3625 | The 'thinking thing' may be the physical basis of the mind [Hobbes on Descartes] |
2552 | Knowing different aspects of brain/mind doesn't make them different [Rorty on Descartes] |
4305 | Descartes gives no clear criterion for individuating mental substances [Cottingham on Descartes] |
4861 | Does Descartes have a clear conception of how mind unites with body? [Spinoza on Descartes] |
6540 | Even Descartes may concede that mental supervenes on neuroanatomical [Lycan on Descartes] |
7733 | Superman's strength is indubitable, Clark Kent's is doubtful, so they are not the same? [Maslin on Descartes] |
5686 | In some thoughts I grasp a subject, but also I will or fear or affirm or deny it [Descartes] |
24011 | Kant thought emotions are too random and passive to be part of morality [Kant, by Williams,B] |
4017 | Descartes created the modern view of rationality, as an internal feature instead of an external vision [Descartes, by Taylor,C] |
23300 | Aristotle and the Stoics denied rationality to animals, while Platonists affirmed it [Aristotle, by Sorabji] |
2284 | I make errors because my will extends beyond my understanding [Descartes] |
5685 | True ideas are images, such as of a man, a chimera, or God [Descartes] |
3629 | All ideas are adventitious, and come from the senses [Gassendi on Descartes] |
2273 | The ideas of God and of my self are innate in me [Descartes] |
2285 | I can think of innumerable shapes I have never experienced [Descartes] |
2286 | The idea of a supremely perfect being is within me, like the basic concepts of mathematics [Descartes] |
11240 | The notion of analytic truth is absent in Aristotle [Aristotle, by Politis] |
5074 | Kant united religion and philosophy, by basing obedience to law on reason instead of faith [Taylor,R on Kant] |
8024 | The categorical imperative says nothing about what our activities and ends should be [MacIntyre on Kant] |
22390 | Kant thought human nature was pure hedonism, so virtue is only possible via the categorical imperative [Foot on Kant] |
6559 | Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal [Aristotle, by Fogelin] |
9750 | We must only value what others find acceptable [Kant, by Korsgaard] |
20160 | Kant focuses exclusively on human values, and neglects cultural and personal values [Kekes on Kant] |
9749 | Our rational choices confer value, arising from the sense that we ourselves are important [Kant, by Korsgaard] |
7671 | Values are created by human choices, and are not some intrinsic quality, out there [Kant, by Berlin] |
3720 | We may claim noble motives, but we cannot penetrate our secret impulses [Kant] |
3717 | Reverence is awareness of a value which demolishes my self-love [Kant] |
3712 | A good will is not good because of what it achieves [Kant] |
3725 | The good of an action is in the mind of the doer, not the consequences [Kant] |
3733 | The 'golden rule' cannot be a universal law as it implies no duties [Kant] |
3736 | Virtue lets a rational being make universal law, and share in the kingdom of ends [Kant] |
3544 | Kant thinks virtue becomes passive, and hence morally unaccountable [Kant, by Annas] |
7674 | Generosity and pity are vices, because they falsely imply one person's superiority to another [Kant, by Berlin] |
21029 | Kantian respect is for humanity and reason (not from love or sympathy or solidarity) [Kant, by Sandel] |
7105 | If 'maxims' are deeper underlying intentions, Kant can be read as a virtue theorist [Kant, by Statman] |
7625 | We can ask how rational goodness is, but also why is rationality good [Putnam on Kant] |
4024 | Kant follows Rousseau in defining freedom and morality in terms of each other [Taylor,C on Kant] |
3710 | The only purely good thing is a good will [Kant] |
3737 | The will is good if its universalised maxim is never in conflict with itself [Kant] |
3715 | Other causes can produce nice results, so morality must consist in the law, found only in rational beings [Kant] |
20715 | It is basic that moral actions must be done from duty [Kant] |
3735 | Men are subject to laws which are both self-made and universal [Kant] |
3718 | Telling the truth from duty is quite different from doing so to avoid inconvenience [Kant] |
3723 | There are no imperatives for a holy will, as the will is in harmony with moral law [Kant] |
3724 | A categorical imperative sees an action as necessary purely for its own sake [Kant] |
3714 | Dutiful actions are judged not by purpose, but by the maxim followed [Kant] |
5295 | Kant was happy with 'good will', even if it had no result [Kant, by Marx/Engels] |
6695 | Kant has to attribute high moral worth to some deeply unattractive human lives [Kant, by Graham] |
8028 | Kantian duty seems to imply conformism with authority [MacIntyre on Kant] |
8026 | Almost any precept can be consistently universalized [MacIntyre on Kant] |
15673 | The intuition behind the categorical imperative is that one ought not to make an exception of oneself [Kant, by Finlayson] |
8068 | Universalising a maxim needs to first stipulate the right description for the action [Anscombe on Kant] |
8025 | The categorical imperative will not suggest maxims suitable for testing [MacIntyre on Kant] |
8027 | I can universalize a selfish maxim, if it is expressed in a way that only applies to me [MacIntyre on Kant] |
3728 | Suicide, false promises, neglected talent, and lack of charity all involve contradictions of principle [Kant, by PG] |
22008 | Always treat yourself and others as an end, and never simply as a means [Kant] |
22009 | Morality is the creation of the laws that enable a Kingdom of Ends [Kant] |
3719 | If lying were the universal law it would make promises impossible [Kant] |
3762 | Why couldn't all rational beings accept outrageously immoral rules of conduct? [Mill on Kant] |
4413 | The categorical imperative smells of cruelty [Nietzsche on Kant] |
3716 | Act according to a maxim you can will as a universal law [Kant] |
3727 | Act as if your maxim were to become a universal law of nature [Kant] |
22050 | The maxim of an action is chosen, and not externally imposed [Kant, by Bowie] |
6694 | Always treat humanity as an end and never as a means only [Kant] |
3731 | Rational beings necessarily conceive their own existence as an end in itself [Kant] |
4345 | For Kant, even a person who lacks all sympathy for others still has a motive for benevolence [Kant, by Hursthouse] |
4251 | If we are required to give moral thought the highest priority, this gives morality no content [Williams,B on Kant] |
16004 | If Kant lives by self-administered laws, this is as feeble as self-administered punishments [Kierkegaard on Kant] |
3711 | Only a good will makes us worthy of happiness [Kant] |
3713 | The function of reason is to produce a good will [Kant] |
3729 | Our inclinations are not innately desirable; in fact most rational beings would like to be rid of them [Kant] |
4344 | Actions where people spread happiness because they enjoy it have no genuine moral worth [Kant] |
3732 | Rational beings have a right to share in the end of an action, not just be part of the means [Kant] |
7670 | Kant is the father of the notion of exploitation as an evil [Kant, by Berlin] |
7591 | Kant completed Grotius's project of a non-religious basis for natural law [Scruton on Kant] |
7673 | Retributive punishment is better than being sent to hospital for your crimes [Kant, by Berlin] |
11150 | It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it [Aristotle] |
3037 | Aristotle said the educated were superior to the uneducated as the living are to the dead [Aristotle, by Diog. Laertius] |
3730 | Non-rational beings only have a relative value, as means rather than as ends [Kant] |
2280 | Many causes are quite baffling, so it is absurd to deduce causes from final purposes [Descartes] |
8660 | There are potential infinities (never running out), but actual infinity is incoherent [Aristotle, by Friend] |
12058 | Aristotle's matter can become any other kind of matter [Aristotle, by Wiggins] |
2272 | There must be at least as much in the cause as there is in the effect [Descartes] |
2289 | Nothing apart from God could have essential existence, and such a being must be unique and eternal [Descartes] |
2269 | God the creator is an intelligent, infinite, powerful substance [Descartes] |
2275 | It is self-evident that deception is a natural defect, so God could not be a deceiver [Descartes] |
8046 | We can only know we should obey God if we already have moral standards for judging God [Kant, by MacIntyre] |
3721 | We judge God to be good by a priori standards of moral perfection [Kant] |
2274 | The idea of God in my mind is like the mark a craftsman puts on his work [Descartes] |
2268 | One idea leads to another, but there must be an initial idea that contains the reality of all the others [Descartes] |
2287 | Existence and God's essence are inseparable, like a valley and a mountain, or a triangle and its properties [Descartes] |
2288 | I cannot think of a supremely perfect being without the supreme perfection of existence [Descartes] |
3632 | We mustn't worship God as an image because we have no idea of him [Hobbes on Descartes] |
3633 | We can never conceive of an infinite being [Gassendi on Descartes] |
5036 | Descartes cannot assume that a most perfect being exists without contradictions [Leibniz on Descartes] |
3638 | Existence is not a perfection; it is what makes perfection possible [Gassendi on Descartes] |
20714 | God is not proved by reason, but is a postulate of moral thinking [Kant, by Davies,B] |
22729 | The concepts of gods arose from observing the soul, and the cosmos [Aristotle, by Sext.Empiricus] |
3636 | God didn't give us good judgement even about our own lives [Gassendi on Descartes] |
2278 | Error arises because my faculty for judging truth is not infinite [Descartes] |
2277 | Since God does not wish to deceive me, my judgement won't make errors if I use it properly [Descartes] |
2281 | If we ask whether God's works are perfect, we must not take a narrow viewpoint, but look at the universe as a whole [Descartes] |