32 ideas
291 | Don't assume that wisdom is the automatic consequence of old age [Plato] |
4739 | In "if and only if" (iff), "if" expresses the sufficient condition, and "only if" the necessary condition [Engel] |
6675 | The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing [Pascal] |
4737 | Are truth-bearers propositions, or ideas/beliefs, or sentences/utterances? [Engel] |
4750 | The redundancy theory gets rid of facts, for 'it is a fact that p' just means 'p' [Engel] |
4744 | We can't explain the corresponding structure of the world except by referring to our thoughts [Engel] |
4738 | The coherence theory says truth is an internal relationship between groups of truth-bearers [Engel] |
4745 | Any coherent set of beliefs can be made more coherent by adding some false beliefs [Engel] |
4753 | Deflationism seems to block philosophers' main occupation, asking metatheoretical questions [Engel] |
4755 | Deflationism cannot explain why we hold beliefs for reasons [Engel] |
4751 | Maybe there is no more to be said about 'true' than there is about the function of 'and' in logic [Engel] |
4752 | Deflationism must reduce bivalence ('p is true or false') to excluded middle ('p or not-p') [Engel] |
4762 | The Humean theory of motivation is that beliefs may be motivators as well as desires [Engel] |
4754 | Our beliefs are meant to fit the world (i.e. be true), where we want the world to fit our desires [Engel] |
4763 | 'Evidentialists' say, and 'voluntarists' deny, that we only believe on the basis of evidence [Engel] |
22011 | The first principles of truth are not rational, but are known by the heart [Pascal] |
4746 | Pragmatism is better understood as a theory of belief than as a theory of truth [Engel] |
4764 | We cannot directly control our beliefs, but we can control the causes of our involuntary beliefs [Engel] |
4759 | Mental states as functions are second-order properties, realised by first-order physical properties [Engel] |
6681 | We only want to know things so that we can talk about them [Pascal] |
6676 | Painting makes us admire things of which we do not admire the originals [Pascal] |
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] |
6678 | We live for the past or future, and so are never happy in the present [Pascal] |
293 | Being unafraid (perhaps through ignorance) and being brave are two different things [Plato] |
20732 | If man considers himself as lost and imprisoned in the universe, he will be terrified [Pascal] |
6682 | Majority opinion is visible and authoritative, although not very clever [Pascal] |
6679 | It is not good to be too free [Pascal] |
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] |