55 ideas
354 | Wisdom makes virtue and true goodness possible [Plato] |
370 | Philosophy is a purification of the soul ready for the afterlife [Plato] |
350 | In investigation the body leads us astray, but the soul gets a clear view of the facts [Plato] |
362 | The greatest misfortune for a person is to develop a dislike for argument [Plato] |
13155 | If you add one to one, which one becomes two, or do they both become two? [Plato] |
21347 | If Simmias is taller than Socrates, that isn't a feature that is just in Simmias [Plato] |
360 | We must have a prior knowledge of equality, if we see 'equal' things and realise they fall short of it [Plato] |
1 | There is only one source for all beauty [Plato] |
368 | Other things are named after the Forms because they participate in them [Plato] |
16516 | The ship which Theseus took to Crete is now sent to Delos crowned with flowers [Plato] |
4266 | Having beliefs involves recognition, expectation and surprise [Scruton] |
4265 | If an animal has beliefs, that implies not only that it can make mistakes, but that it can learn from them [Scruton] |
357 | People are obviously recollecting when they react to a geometrical diagram [Plato] |
359 | If we feel the inadequacy of a resemblance, we must recollect the original [Plato] |
9343 | To achieve pure knowledge, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things with the soul [Plato] |
4264 | Perception (which involves an assessment) is a higher state than sensation [Scruton] |
7628 | Broad rejects the inferential component of the representative theory [Broad, by Maund] |
15859 | To investigate the causes of things, study what is best for them [Plato] |
13154 | Do we think and experience with blood, air or fire, or could it be our brain? [Plato] |
4271 | There is consciousness whenever behaviour must be explained in terms of mental activity [Scruton] |
4272 | Our concept of a person is derived from Roman law [Scruton] |
364 | One soul can't be more or less of a soul than another [Plato] |
4267 | Conditioning may change behaviour without changing the mind [Scruton] |
4269 | An emotion is a motive which is also a feeling [Scruton] |
4270 | Do we use reason to distinguish people from animals, or use that difference to define reason? [Scruton] |
4284 | All moral life depends ultimately on piety, which is our recognition of our own dependence [Scruton] |
361 | It is a mistake to think that the most violent pleasure or pain is therefore the truest reality [Plato] |
4273 | Kant's Moral Law is the rules rational beings would accept when trying to live by agreement [Scruton] |
4274 | The modern virtues are courage, prudence, wisdom, temperance, justice, charity and loyalty [Scruton] |
4286 | Only just people will drop their own self-interests when faced with an impartial verdict [Scruton] |
4283 | Sympathy can undermine the moral order just as much as crime does [Scruton] |
351 | War aims at the acquisition of wealth, because we are enslaved to the body [Plato] |
4290 | That which can only be done by a callous person, ought not to be done [Scruton] |
4285 | As soon as we drop self-interest and judge impartially, we find ourselves agreeing about conflicts [Scruton] |
4287 | Utilitarianism merely guides us (by means of sympathy) when the moral law is silent [Scruton] |
4282 | Morality is not a sort of calculation, it is what sets the limits to when calculation is appropriate [Scruton] |
4281 | Utilitarianism says we can't blame Stalin yet, but such a theory is a sick joke [Scruton] |
4280 | Utilitarianism is wrong precisely because it can't distinguish animals from people [Scruton] |
4288 | Many breeds of animals have needs which our own ancestors planted in them [Scruton] |
4295 | We favour our own animals over foreign ones because we see them as fellow citizens [Scruton] |
4296 | Brutal animal sports are banned because they harm the personality of the watcher [Scruton] |
4291 | Letting your dog kill wild rats, and keeping rats for your dog to kill, are very different [Scruton] |
4293 | Introducing a natural means of controlling animal population may not be very compassionate [Scruton] |
4268 | Animals command our sympathy and moral concern initially because of their intentionality [Scruton] |
4263 | Many of the stranger forms of life (e.g. worms) interest us only as a species, not as individuals [Scruton] |
4276 | An animal has individuality if it is nameable, and advanced animals can respond to their name [Scruton] |
4277 | I may avoid stepping on a spider or flower, but fellow-feeling makes me protect a rabbit [Scruton] |
4278 | Lucky animals are eaten by large predators, the less lucky starve, and worst is death by small predators [Scruton] |
4279 | We can easily remove the risk of suffering from an animal's life, but we shouldn't do it [Scruton] |
4289 | Sheep and cattle live comfortable lives, and die an enviably easy death [Scruton] |
4292 | Concern for one animal may harm the species, if the individual is part of a bigger problem [Scruton] |
4294 | Animals are outside the community of rights, but we still have duties towards them [Scruton] |
13156 | Fancy being unable to distinguish a cause from its necessary background conditions! [Plato] |
369 | If the Earth is spherical and in the centre, it is kept in place by universal symmetry, not by force [Plato] |
363 | Whether the soul pre-exists our body depends on whether it contains the ultimate standard of reality [Plato] |