50 ideas
23064 | So-called wisdom is just pondering things instead of acting [Cioran] |
12104 | All ideas must be understood historically [Comte] |
12105 | Our knowledge starts in theology, passes through metaphysics, and ends in positivism [Comte] |
19635 | Hegel produced modern optimism; he failed to grasp that consciousness never progresses [Hegel, by Cioran] |
8215 | Hegel was the last philosopher of the Book [Hegel, by Derrida] |
16011 | Hegel doesn't storm the heavens like the giants, but works his way up by syllogisms [Kierkegaard on Hegel] |
5433 | For Hegel, things are incomplete, and contain external references in their own nature [Hegel, by Russell] |
23072 | Systems are the worst despotism, in philosophy and in life [Cioran] |
12112 | Metaphysics is just the oversubtle qualification of abstract names for phenomena [Comte] |
3301 | On the continent it is generally believed that metaphysics died with Hegel [Benardete,JA on Hegel] |
12111 | Positivism is the final state of human intelligence [Comte] |
12106 | Positivism gives up absolute truth, and seeks phenomenal laws, by reason and observation [Comte] |
12114 | Science can drown in detail, so we need broad scientists (to keep out the metaphysicians) [Comte] |
12116 | Only positivist philosophy can terminate modern social crises [Comte] |
23075 | A text explained ceases to be a text [Cioran] |
19661 | Making sufficient reason an absolute devalues the principle of non-contradiction [Hegel, by Meillassoux] |
20952 | Rather than in three stages, Hegel presented his dialectic as 'negation of the negation' [Hegel, by Bowie] |
21777 | Negation of negation doubles back into a self-relationship [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
23066 | Negation doesn't arise from reasoning, but from deep instincts [Cioran] |
5645 | The dialectical opposition of being and nothing is resolved in passing to the concept of becoming [Hegel, by Scruton] |
23077 | The word 'being' is very tempting, but in fact means nothing at all [Cioran] |
5646 | Hegel gives an ontological proof of the existence of everything [Hegel, by Scruton] |
23068 | People who really believe anti-realism don't bother to prove it [Cioran] |
21755 | For Hegel, categories shift their form in the course of history [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
21754 | Our concepts and categories disclose the world, because we are part of the world [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
22079 | Hegel said Kant's fixed categories actually vary with culture and era [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
23073 | Convictions are failures to study anything thoroughly [Cioran] |
23078 | Opinions are fine, but having convictions means something has gone wrong [Cioran] |
9225 | Hegel reputedly claimed to know a priori that there are five planets [Hegel, by Field,H] |
12108 | All real knowledge rests on observed facts [Comte] |
12109 | We must observe in order to form theories, but connected observations need prior theories [Comte] |
12107 | Positivism explains facts by connecting particular phenomena with general facts [Comte] |
12115 | Introspection is pure illusion; we can obviously observe everything except ourselves [Comte] |
23076 | If people always acted without words we would take them for robots [Cioran] |
23065 | If only we could write like a reptile, of endless sensations and no concepts! [Cioran] |
23071 | We could only be responsible if we had consented before birth to who we are [Cioran] |
23070 | We morally dissolve if we spend time with excessive beauty [Cioran] |
21758 | Humans have no fixed identity, but produce and reveal their shifting identity in history [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
23074 | In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need [Cioran] |
23069 | Fear cures boredom, because it is stronger [Cioran] |
23062 | It is better to watch the hours pass, than trying to fill them [Cioran] |
20414 | Hegel's Absolute Spirit is the union of human rational activity at a moment, and whatever that sustains [Hegel, by Eldridge] |
3909 | Society isn’t founded on a contract, since contracts presuppose a society [Hegel, by Scruton] |
23067 | Suicide is pointless, because it always comes too late [Cioran] |
4347 | When man wills the natural, it is no longer natural [Hegel] |
12113 | The search for first or final causes is futile [Comte] |
12110 | We can never know origins, purposes or inner natures [Comte] |
4188 | Hegel's entire philosophy is nothing but a monstrous amplification of the ontological proof [Schopenhauer on Hegel] |
6686 | Hegel said he was offering an encyclopaedic rationalisation of Christianity [Hegel, by Graham] |
23063 | The first man obviously found paradise unendurable [Cioran] |