404 ideas
78 | Wisdom is scientific and intuitive knowledge of what is by nature most precious [Aristotle] |
5248 | Wisdom does not study happiness, because it is not concerned with processes [Aristotle] |
9199 | Wisdom for one instant is as good as wisdom for eternity [Chrysippus] |
2682 | Aristotle thinks human life is not important enough to spend a whole life on it [Nagel on Aristotle] |
103 | Wise people can contemplate alone, though co-operation helps [Aristotle] |
20853 | Wise men should try to participate in politics, since they are a good influence [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20772 | Three branches of philosophy: first logic, second ethics, third physics (which ends with theology) [Chrysippus] |
2845 | Free and great-souled men do not keep asking "what is the use of it?" [Aristotle] |
112 | Most people are readier to submit to compulsion than to argument [Aristotle] |
22521 | Our method of inquiry is to examine the smallest parts that make up the whole [Aristotle] |
22 | Trained minds never expect more precision than is possible [Aristotle] |
76 | The object of scientific knowledge is what is necessary [Aristotle] |
1570 | Human beings, alone of the animals, have logos [Aristotle] |
1574 | Reasoning distinguishes what is beneficial, and hence what is right [Aristotle] |
2801 | Intelligence which looks ahead is a natural master, while bodily strength is a natural slave [Aristotle] |
5969 | Chrysippus said the uncaused is non-existent [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
4333 | Contraries are by definition as far distant as possible from one another [Aristotle] |
22529 | Men are natural leaders (apart from the unnatural ones) [Aristotle] |
22571 | 'If each is small, so too are all' is in one way false, for the whole composed of all is not small [Aristotle] |
21356 | Piety requires us to honour truth above our friends [Aristotle] |
21388 | The causes of future true events must exist now, so they will happen because of destiny [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
35 | A statement is true if all the data are in harmony with it [Aristotle] |
20780 | Graspable presentations are criteria of facts, and are molded according to their objects [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20793 | How could you ever know that the presentation is similar to the object? [Sext.Empiricus on Chrysippus] |
8077 | Stoic propositional logic is like chemistry - how atoms make molecules, not the innards of atoms [Chrysippus, by Devlin] |
20791 | Chrysippus has five obvious 'indemonstrables' of reasoning [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
8078 | Modus ponens is one of five inference rules identified by the Stoics [Chrysippus, by Devlin] |
6023 | Every proposition is either true or false [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
5992 | Chrysippus says action is the criterion for existence, which must be physical [Chrysippus, by Tieleman] |
21673 | There are simple and complex facts; the latter depend on further facts [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
16652 | Stoics categories are Substrate, Quality, Disposition, and Relation [Chrysippus, by Pasnau] |
27 | Eternal white is no whiter than temporary white, and it is the same with goodness [Aristotle] |
5130 | It is meaningless to speak of 'man-himself', because it has the same definition as plain 'man' [Aristotle] |
28 | How will a vision of pure goodness make someone a better doctor? [Aristotle] |
16058 | Dion and Theon coexist, but Theon lacks a foot. If Dion loses a foot, he ousts Theon? [Chrysippus, by Philo of Alexandria] |
22525 | The whole is prior to its parts, because parts are defined by their role [Aristotle] |
16059 | Change of matter doesn't destroy identity - in Dion and Theon change is a condition of identity [Chrysippus, by Long/Sedley] |
22587 | Understanding is the aim of our nature [Aristotle] |
4391 | Opinion is praised for being in accordance with truth [Aristotle] |
2573 | To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence [Aristotle] |
5220 | Particular facts (such as 'is it cooked?') are matters of sense-perception, not deliberation [Aristotle] |
95 | If everyone believes it, it is true [Aristotle] |
22141 | It is enough if we refute the objections and leave common opinions undisturbed [Aristotle] |
79 | Intuition grasps the definitions that can't be proved [Aristotle] |
22522 | To grasp something, trace it back to its natural origins [Aristotle] |
22524 | The nature of each thing is its mature state [Aristotle] |
5148 | The irrational psuché is persuadable by reason - shown by our criticism and encouragement of people [Aristotle] |
5232 | If beings are dominated by appetite, this can increase so much that it drives out reason [Aristotle] |
5146 | Everything that receives nourishment has a vegetative soul, with it own distinctive excellence [Aristotle] |
5147 | In a controlled person the receptive part of the soul is obedient, and it is in harmony in the virtuous [Aristotle] |
5145 | The rational and irrational parts of the soul are either truly separate, or merely described that way [Aristotle] |
1875 | Dogs show reason in decisions made by elimination [Chrysippus, by Sext.Empiricus] |
22528 | The nature of all animate things is to have one part which rules it [Aristotle] |
5266 | It would seem that the thinking part is the individual self [Aristotle] |
4118 | A human being fathers his own actions as he fathers his children [Aristotle] |
12961 | For an action to be 'free', it must be deliberate as well as unconstrained [Aristotle, by Leibniz] |
8007 | Aristotle never discusses free will [Aristotle, by MacIntyre] |
20834 | Chrysippus allows evil to say it is fated, or even that it is rational and natural [Plutarch on Chrysippus] |
20192 | Aristotle assesses whether people are responsible, and if they are it was voluntary [Aristotle, by Zagzebski] |
20833 | A swerve in the atoms would be unnatural, like scales settling differently for no reason [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
20808 | Everything is fated, either by continuous causes or by a supreme rational principle [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20835 | Chrysippus is wrong to believe in non-occurring future possibilities if he is a fatalist [Plutarch on Chrysippus] |
20836 | The Lazy Argument responds to fate with 'why bother?', but the bothering is also fated [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
20837 | Fate is an eternal and fixed chain of causal events [Chrysippus] |
21679 | When we say events are fated by antecedent causes, do we mean principal or auxiliary causes? [Chrysippus] |
5971 | Destiny is only a predisposing cause, not a sufficient cause [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
4405 | The attainment of truth is the task of the intellectual part of the soul [Aristotle] |
5160 | There is a mean of feelings, as in our responses to the good or bad fortune of others [Aristotle] |
4326 | Aristotle gives a superior account of rationality, because he allows emotions to participate [Hursthouse on Aristotle] |
72 | Assume our reason is in two parts, one for permanent first principles, and one for variable things [Aristotle] |
20787 | A proposition is what can be asserted or denied on its own [Chrysippus] |
22570 | Rhetoric now enables good speakers to become popular leaders [Aristotle] |
4380 | Not all actions aim at some good; akratic actions, for example, do not [Burnyeat on Aristotle] |
23320 | Choice is not explained by the will, but by the operation of reason when it judges what is good [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
5211 | An action is voluntary if the limb movements originate in the agent [Aristotle] |
5221 | Deliberation ends when the starting-point of an action is traced back to the dominant part of the self [Aristotle] |
22574 | A community can lack self-control [Aristotle] |
4383 | Aristotle seems not to explain why the better syllogism is overcome in akratic actions [Burnyeat on Aristotle] |
68 | The akrates acts from desire not choice, and the enkrates acts from choice not desire [Aristotle] |
4318 | Virtue is right reason and feeling and action. Akrasia and enkrateia are lower levels of action. [Aristotle, by Cottingham] |
4372 | Akrasia merely neglects or misunderstands knowledge, rather than opposing it [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
5254 | Some people explain akrasia by saying only opinion is present, not knowledge [Aristotle] |
5255 | A person may act against one part of his knowledge, if he knows both universal and particular [Aristotle] |
23317 | Aristotle sees akrasia as acting against what is chosen, not against reason [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
23318 | Akrasia is explained by past mental failures, not by a specific choice [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
5257 | Licentious people feel no regret, but weak-willed people are capable of repentance [Aristotle] |
20850 | Passions are judgements; greed thinks money is honorable, and likewise drinking and lust [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20212 | Practical reason is truth-attaining, and focused on actions good for human beings [Aristotle] |
69 | We deliberate about means, not ends [Aristotle] |
4371 | Seeing particulars as parts of larger wholes is to perceive their value [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
5247 | Prudence is mainly concerned with particulars, which is the sphere of human conduct [Aristotle] |
80 | Virtue ensures that we have correct aims, and prudence that we have correct means of achieving them [Aristotle] |
82 | The one virtue of prudence carries with it the possession of all the other virtues [Aristotle] |
73 | Practical intellect serves to arrive at the truth which corresponds to right appetite [Aristotle] |
5249 | One cannot be prudent without being good [Aristotle] |
67 | Bad people are just ignorant of what they ought to do [Aristotle] |
5218 | Some people are good at forming opinions, but bad at making moral choices [Aristotle] |
81 | For Socrates virtues are principles, involving knowledge, but we say they only imply the principle of practical reason [Aristotle] |
5267 | Our reasoned acts are held to be voluntary and our own doing [Aristotle] |
5213 | If you repent of an act done through ignorance, you acted involuntarily, not non-voluntarily [Aristotle] |
4384 | For Aristotle responsibility seems negative, in the absence of force or ignorance [Irwin on Aristotle] |
5212 | A man should sooner die than do some dreadful things, no matter how cruel the death [Aristotle] |
20869 | The highest degree of morality performs all that is appropriate, omitting nothing [Chrysippus] |
52 | We choose things for their fineness, their advantage, or for pleasure [Aristotle] |
2837 | Nothing contrary to nature is beautiful [Aristotle] |
2824 | The collective judgement of many people on art is better than that of an individual [Aristotle] |
3044 | Stoics say that beauty and goodness are equivalent and linked [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
2846 | Music can mould the character to be virtuous (just as gymnastics trains the body) [Aristotle] |
45 | We aim not to identify goodness, but to be good [Aristotle] |
46 | We must take for granted that we should act according to right principle [Aristotle] |
5153 | There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation [Aristotle] |
20838 | Fate initiates general causes, but individual wills and characters dictate what we do [Chrysippus] |
20813 | Human purpose is to contemplate and imitate the cosmos [Chrysippus] |
5134 | Perhaps we get a better account of happiness as the good for man if we know his function [Aristotle] |
31 | If bodily organs have functions, presumably the whole person has one [Aristotle] |
5231 | To eat vast amounts is unnatural, since natural desire is to replenish the deficiency [Aristotle] |
5234 | For the great-souled man it is sometimes better to be dead [Aristotle] |
5075 | Aristotle said there are two levels of virtue - the conventional and the intellectual [Taylor,R on Aristotle] |
21 | Moral acts are so varied that they must be convention, not nature [Aristotle] |
2807 | Some say slavery is unnatural and created by convention, and is therefore forced, and unjust [Aristotle] |
3045 | Stoics say justice is a part of nature, not just an invented principle [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20774 | Only nature is available to guide action and virtue [Chrysippus] |
4370 | For Aristotle 'good' means purpose, and value is real but relational [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
18227 | We desire final things just for themselves, and not for the sake of something else [Aristotle] |
4381 | How can an action be intrinsically good if it is a means to 'eudaimonia'? [Ackrill on Aristotle] |
20864 | Live in agreement, according to experience of natural events [Chrysippus] |
33 | Each named function has a distinctive excellence attached to it [Aristotle] |
5154 | Excess and deficiency are bad for virtue, just as they are for bodily health [Aristotle] |
5268 | Disreputable pleasures are only pleasant to persons with diseased perception [Aristotle] |
5229 | The more virtuous and happy a person is, the worse the prospect becomes of ending life [Aristotle] |
90 | All altruism is an extension of self-love [Aristotle] |
22582 | Spirit [thumos] is the capacity by which we love [Aristotle] |
5262 | Only lovable things are loved, and they must be good, or pleasant, or useful [Aristotle] |
5263 | Most people want to be loved rather than to love, because they desire honour [Aristotle] |
5142 | Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds [Aristotle] |
2689 | Good people enjoy virtuous action, just as musicians enjoy beautiful melodies [Aristotle] |
101 | Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom [Aristotle] |
5243 | The best people exercise their virtue towards others, rather than to themselves [Aristotle] |
3559 | For Aristotle, true self-love is love of the higher parts of one's soul [Aristotle, by Annas] |
92 | Self-love benefits ourselves, and also helps others [Aristotle] |
2810 | Selfishness is wrong not because it is self-love, but because it is excessive [Aristotle] |
5128 | Each category of existence has its own good, so one Good cannot unite them [Aristotle] |
5129 | There should be one science of the one Good, but there are many overlapping sciences [Aristotle] |
20 | The good is 'that at which all things aim' [Aristotle] |
5131 | Intelligence and sight, and some pleasures and honours, are candidates for being good in themselves [Aristotle] |
5135 | Goods are external, of the soul, and of the body; those of the soul (such as action) come first [Aristotle] |
5972 | Living happily is nothing but living virtuously [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
1777 | Pleasure is not the good, because there are disgraceful pleasures [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5973 | Justice can be preserved if pleasure is a good, but not if it is the goal [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
5269 | Pleasure is not the Good, and not every pleasure is desirable [Aristotle] |
23 | The masses believe, not unreasonably, that the good is pleasure [Aristotle] |
109 | Clearly perfect conduct will involve both good intention and good action [Aristotle] |
22555 | The function of good men is to confer benefits [Aristotle] |
26 | Wealth is not the good, because it is only a means [Aristotle] |
25 | You can be good while asleep, or passive, or in pain [Aristotle] |
5136 | Happiness seems to involve virtue, or practical reason, or wisdom, or pleasure, or external goods [Aristotle] |
18673 | Eudaimonia is said to only have final value, where reason and virtue are also useful [Aristotle, by Orsi] |
5127 | Does Aristotle say eudaimonia is the aim, or that it ought to be? [McDowell on Aristotle] |
5143 | Some good and evil can happen to the dead, just as the living may be unaware of a disaster [Aristotle] |
2681 | Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are [Nagel on Aristotle] |
5132 | Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself [Aristotle] |
30 | Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action [Aristotle] |
5139 | If happiness can be achieved by study and effort, then it is open to anyone who is not corrupt [Aristotle] |
39 | Happiness needs total goodness and a complete life [Aristotle] |
5144 | Happiness is activity in accordance with complete virtue, for a whole life, with adequate external goods [Aristotle] |
100 | The happy life is in accordance with goodness, which implies seriousness [Aristotle] |
106 | The best life is that of the intellect, since that is in the fullest sense the man [Aristotle] |
4374 | For Aristotle, pleasure is the perception of particulars as valuable [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
5230 | There are pleasures of the soul (e.g. civic honour, and learning) and of the body [Aristotle] |
383 | God feels one simple pleasure forever [Aristotle] |
5270 | Intellectual pleasures are superior to sensuous ones [Aristotle] |
96 | Nobody would choose the mentality of a child, even if they had the greatest childish pleasures [Aristotle] |
97 | There are many things we would want even if they brought no pleasure [Aristotle] |
99 | If happiness were mere amusement it wouldn't be worth a lifetime's effort [Aristotle] |
5259 | If we criticise bodily pleasures as licentious and bad, why do we consider their opposite, pain, to be bad? [Aristotle] |
20845 | There are shameful pleasures, and nothing shameful is good, so pleasure is not a good [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
98 | It is right to pursue pleasure, because it enhances life, and life is a thing to choose [Aristotle] |
5256 | Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity [Aristotle] |
5258 | While replenishing we even enjoy unpleasant things, but only absolute pleasures when we are replenished [Aristotle] |
49 | Character is revealed by the pleasures and pains people feel [Aristotle] |
53 | Feeling inappropriate pleasure or pain affects conduct, and is central to morality [Aristotle] |
84 | The greater the pleasure, the greater the hindrance to thought [Aristotle] |
88 | Nobody would choose all the good things in world, if the price was loss of identity [Aristotle] |
91 | A man is his own best friend; therefore he ought to love himself best [Aristotle] |
71 | Licentiousness concerns the animal-like pleasures of touch and taste [Aristotle] |
5967 | People need nothing except corn and water [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
5137 | Many pleasures are relative to a person, but some love what is pleasant by nature, and virtue is like that [Aristotle] |
4342 | Aristotle must hold that virtuous King Priam's life can be marred, but not ruined [Hursthouse on Aristotle] |
4382 | Feelings are vital to virtue, but virtue requires choice, which feelings lack [Kosman on Aristotle] |
54 | Actions are not virtuous because of their quality, but because of the way they are done [Aristotle] |
58 | If virtues are not feelings or faculties, then they must be dispositions [Aristotle] |
4373 | Virtue is the feeling of emotions that accord with one's perception of value [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
63 | Virtue is a purposive mean disposition, which follows a rational principle and prudent judgment [Aristotle] |
5214 | Acts may be forgivable if particular facts (rather than principles) are unknown [Aristotle] |
107 | A life of moral virtue brings human happiness, but not divine happiness [Aristotle] |
5215 | There are six categories of particular cirumstance affecting an action [Aristotle] |
5216 | An act is involuntary if the particular facts (esp. circumstances and effect) are unknown [Aristotle] |
55 | People who perform just acts unwillingly or ignorantly are still not just [Aristotle] |
5966 | All virtue is good, but not always praised (as in not lusting after someone ugly) [Chrysippus] |
34 | The good for man is an activity of soul in accordance with virtue [Aristotle] |
5149 | The two main parts of the soul give rise to two groups of virtues - intellectual, and moral [Aristotle] |
5156 | How can good actions breed virtues, if you need to be virtuous to perform good actions? [Aristotle] |
5157 | If a thing has excellence, this makes the thing good, and means it functions well [Aristotle] |
20855 | Chrysippus says virtue can be lost (though Cleanthes says it is too secure for that) [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5970 | Chrysippus says nothing is blameworthy, as everything conforms with the best nature [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
4369 | It is not universals we must perceive for virtue, but particulars, seen as intrinsically good [Aristotle, by Achtenberg] |
5158 | Actions concern particular cases, and rules must fit the cases, not the other way round [Aristotle] |
5237 | We cannot properly judge by rules, because blame depends on perception of particulars [Aristotle] |
3548 | Aristotle neglects the place of rules in the mature virtuous person [Annas on Aristotle] |
4367 | Moral virtue is not natural, because its behaviour can be changed, unlike a falling stone [Aristotle] |
4362 | Dispositions to virtue are born in us, but without intelligence they can be harmful [Aristotle] |
5223 | We are partly responsible for our own dispositions and virtues [Aristotle] |
56 | A person is good if they act from choice, and for the sake of the actions in themselves [Aristotle] |
93 | Existence is desirable if one is conscious of one's own goodness [Aristotle] |
22557 | Virtuous people are like the citizens of the best city [Aristotle] |
2841 | People become good because of nature, habit and reason [Aristotle] |
5225 | The end of virtue is what is right and honourable or fine [Aristotle] |
43 | Nature enables us to be virtuous, but habit develops virtue in us [Aristotle] |
5152 | Like activities produce like dispositions, so we must give the right quality to the activity [Aristotle] |
4378 | We must practise virtuous acts because practice actually teaches us the nature of virtue [Burnyeat on Aristotle] |
6793 | People can break into the circle of virtue and good action, by chance, or with help [Aristotle] |
57 | We acquire virtue by the repeated performance of just and temperate acts [Aristotle] |
2690 | Associating with good people can be a training in virtue [Aristotle] |
51 | True education is training from infancy to have correct feelings [Aristotle] |
44 | We acquire virtues by habitually performing good deeds [Aristotle] |
5222 | A person of good character sees the truth about what is actually fine and pleasant [Aristotle] |
4394 | People develop their characters through the activities they pursue [Aristotle] |
5239 | When people speak of justice they mean a disposition of character to behave justly [Aristotle] |
4379 | It is very hard to change a person's character traits by argument [Aristotle] |
4386 | Character can be heroic, excellent, controlled, uncontrolled, bad, or brutish [Aristotle, by Urmson] |
5250 | The three states of character to avoid are vice, 'akrasia' and brutishness [Aristotle] |
47 | Virtues are destroyed by the excess and preserved by the mean [Aristotle] |
4406 | Aristotle aims at happiness by depressing emotions to a harmless mean [Nietzsche on Aristotle] |
60 | The mean is relative to the individual (diet, for example) [Aristotle] |
61 | Skills are only well performed if they observe the mean [Aristotle] |
4388 | One drink a day is moderation, but very drunk once a week could exhibit the mean [Urmson on Aristotle] |
4387 | In most normal situations it is not appropriate to have any feelings at all [Urmson on Aristotle] |
62 | We must tune our feelings to be right in every way [Aristotle] |
2829 | The law is the mean [Aristotle] |
5159 | The mean is always right, and the extremes are always wrong [Aristotle] |
65 | The vices to which we are most strongly pulled are most opposed to the mean [Aristotle] |
5161 | To make one's anger exactly appropriate to a situation is very difficult [Aristotle] |
5235 | Patient people are indignant, but only appropriately, as their reason prescribes [Aristotle] |
5238 | The sincere man is praiseworthy, because truth is the mean between boasting and irony [Aristotle] |
3545 | The mean implies that vices are opposed to one another, not to virtue [Aristotle, by Annas] |
5217 | At times we ought to feel angry, and we ought to desire health and learning [Aristotle] |
5236 | It is foolish not to be angry when it is appropriate [Aristotle] |
22590 | Virtue is concerned with correct feelings [Aristotle] |
64 | There is no right time or place or way or person for the committing of adultery; it is just wrong [Aristotle] |
4117 | Nowadays we (unlike Aristotle) seem agreed that someone can have one virtue but lack others [Williams,B on Aristotle] |
5251 | Gods exist in a state which is morally superior to virtue [Aristotle] |
2813 | It is quite possible to live a moderate life and yet be miserable [Aristotle] |
4389 | What emotion is displayed in justice, and what are its deficiency and excess? [Urmson on Aristotle] |
23556 | Particular justice concerns specific temptations, but universal justice concerns the whole character [Aristotle] |
5261 | Between friends there is no need for justice [Aristotle] |
22553 | Justice is a virtue of communities [Aristotle] |
5240 | The word 'unjust' describes law-breaking and exploitation [Aristotle] |
5151 | Justice concerns our behaviour in dealing with other people [Aristotle] |
5242 | Justice is whatever creates or preserves social happiness [Aristotle] |
5226 | True courage is an appropriate response to a dangerous situation [Aristotle] |
5224 | Strictly speaking, a courageous person is one who does not fear an honourable death [Aristotle] |
24 | Honour depends too much on the person who awards it [Aristotle] |
4119 | If you aim at honour, you make yourself dependent on the people to whom you wish to be superior [Aristotle, by Williams,B] |
5233 | Honour is clearly the greatest external good [Aristotle] |
105 | We should aspire to immortality, and live by what is highest in us [Aristotle] |
104 | Contemplation (with the means to achieve it) is the perfect happiness for man [Aristotle] |
18229 | Only contemplation is sought for its own sake; practical activity always offers some gain [Aristotle] |
5272 | The intellectual life is divine in comparison with ordinary human life [Aristotle] |
18232 | The gods live, but action is unworthy of them, so that only leaves contemplation? [Aristotle] |
110 | Lower animals cannot be happy, because they cannot contemplate [Aristotle] |
111 | The more people contemplate, the happier they are [Aristotle] |
5138 | The fine deeds required for happiness need external resources, like friends or wealth [Aristotle] |
38 | A man can't be happy if he is ugly, or of low birth, or alone and childless [Aristotle] |
1665 | It is nonsense to say a good person is happy even if they are being tortured or suffering disaster [Aristotle] |
22561 | The rich are seen as noble, because they don't need to commit crimes [Aristotle] |
108 | The virtue of generosity requires money [Aristotle] |
85 | Bad men can have friendships of utility or pleasure, but only good men can be true friends [Aristotle] |
2686 | Aristotle does not confine supreme friendship to moral heroes [Cooper,JM on Aristotle] |
2687 | For Aristotle in the best friendships the binding force is some excellence of character [Cooper,JM on Aristotle] |
2808 | Master and slave can have friendship through common interests [Aristotle] |
5252 | 'Enkrateia' (control) means abiding by one's own calculations [Aristotle] |
5245 | Society collapses if people cannot rely on exchanging good for good and evil for evil [Aristotle] |
5265 | Even more than a social being, man is a pairing and family being [Aristotle] |
2803 | Man is by nature a political animal [Aristotle] |
2820 | People want to live together, even when they don't want mutual help [Aristotle] |
22586 | Only humans have reason [Aristotle] |
20842 | Rational animals begin uncorrupted, but externals and companions are bad influences [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5133 | Man is by nature a social being [Aristotle] |
22523 | The community (of villages) becomes a city when it is totally self-sufficient [Aristotle] |
2805 | A community must share a common view of good and justice [Aristotle] |
22526 | People who are anti-social or wholly self-sufficient are no part of a city [Aristotle] |
22535 | Friendship is the best good for cities, because it reduces factions [Aristotle] |
22584 | A community should all share to some extent in something like land or food [Aristotle] |
22532 | A city can't become entirely one, because its very nature is to be a multitude [Aristotle] |
22581 | The size of a city is decided by the maximum self-sufficient community that can be surveyed [Aristotle] |
22548 | A city aims at living well [Aristotle] |
86 | A bad political constitution (especially a tyranny) makes friendship almost impossible [Aristotle] |
5140 | Political science aims at the highest good, which involves creating virtue in citizens [Aristotle] |
22577 | What is the best life for everyone, and is that a communal or an individual problem? [Aristotle] |
22579 | The same four cardinal virtues which apply to individuals also apply to a city [Aristotle] |
2431 | Every state is an association formed for some good purpose [Aristotle] |
22578 | The happiest city is the one that acts most nobly [Aristotle] |
2832 | The state aims to consist as far as possible of those who are like and equal [Aristotle] |
22566 | The greed of the rich is more destructive than the greed of the people [Aristotle] |
21046 | The aim of legislators, and of a good constitution, is to create good citizens [Aristotle] |
22546 | A city is a community of free people, and the constitution should aim at the common advantage [Aristotle] |
2821 | The six constitutions are monarchy/tyranny, aristocracy/oligarchy, and polity/democracy [Aristotle] |
22558 | Constitutions specify distribution of offices, the authorities, and the community's aim [Aristotle] |
2835 | Any constitution can be made to last for a day or two [Aristotle] |
2973 | We must decide the most desirable human life before designing a constitution [Aristotle] |
22580 | The best constitution enables everyone to live the best life [Aristotle] |
22544 | A citizen is someone who is allowed to hold official posts in a city [Aristotle] |
2818 | The virtues of a good citizen are relative to a particular constitution [Aristotle] |
22545 | A person can be an excellent citizen without being an excellent man [Aristotle] |
22563 | The middle classes are neither ambitious nor anarchic, which is good [Aristotle] |
22541 | Kings should be selected according to character [Aristotle] |
22552 | The rich can claim to rule, because of land ownership, and being more trustworthy [Aristotle] |
22583 | The guardians should not be harsh to strangers, as no one should behave like that [Aristotle] |
2819 | The only virtue special to a ruler is practical wisdom [Aristotle] |
22542 | People who buy public office will probably expect to profit from it [Aristotle] |
5241 | We hold that every piece of legislation is just [Aristotle] |
22539 | Election of officials by the elected is dangerous, because factions can control it [Aristotle] |
22543 | In large communities it is better if more people participate in the offices [Aristotle] |
22572 | Officers should like the constitution, be capable, and have appropriate virtues and justice [Aristotle] |
2823 | The many may add up to something good, even if they are inferior as individuals [Aristotle] |
87 | Democracy is the best constitution for friendship, because it encourages equality [Aristotle] |
22567 | Democracy arises when people who are given equal freedom assume unconditional equality [Aristotle] |
2826 | Like water, large numbers of people are harder to corrupt than a few [Aristotle] |
22560 | Popular leaders only arise in democracies that are not in accord with the law [Aristotle] |
22562 | Choosing officials by lot is democratic [Aristotle] |
22533 | If the people are equal in nature, then they should all share in ruling [Aristotle] |
2817 | It is wrong that a worthy officer of state should seek the office [Aristotle] |
22576 | No office is permanent in a democracy [Aristotle] |
22549 | In many cases, the claim that the majority is superior would apply equally to wild beasts [Aristotle] |
22575 | Ultimate democracy is tyranny [Aristotle] |
22531 | We aim to understand the best possible community for free people [Aristotle] |
5260 | Friendship holds communities together, and lawgivers value it more than justice [Aristotle] |
5264 | Friendship is based on a community of sharing [Aristotle] |
22585 | Look at all of the citizens before judging a city to be happy [Aristotle] |
22564 | Community is based on friends, who are equal and similar, and share things [Aristotle] |
22565 | The best communities rely on a large and strong middle class [Aristotle] |
22589 | Citizens do not just own themselves, but are also parts of the city [Aristotle] |
22534 | People care less about what is communal, and more about what is their own [Aristotle] |
22538 | Owning and sharing property communally increases disagreements [Aristotle] |
22536 | There could be private land and public crops, or public land and private crops, or both public [Aristotle] |
22530 | Both women and children should be educated, as this contributes to a city's excellence [Aristotle] |
21358 | Natural slaves are those naturally belonging to another, or who can manage no more than labouring [Aristotle] |
21047 | Aristotle thought slavery is just if it is both necessary and natural [Aristotle, by Sandel] |
20092 | One principle of liberty is to take turns ruling and being ruled [Aristotle] |
2833 | Equality is obviously there to help people who do not get priority in the constitution [Aristotle] |
2830 | We can claim an equal right to aristocratic virtue, as well as to wealth or freedom [Aristotle] |
2834 | It is always the weak who want justice and equality, not the strong [Aristotle] |
22568 | Faction is for inferiors to be equal, and equals to become superior [Aristotle] |
22550 | It is dreadful to neither give a share nor receive a share [Aristotle] |
22569 | The Heraeans replaced election with lot, to thwart campaigning [Aristotle] |
2814 | Phaleas proposed equality of property, provided there is equality of education [Aristotle] |
22540 | Wealth could be quickly leveled by only the rich giving marriage dowries [Aristotle] |
2828 | Law is intelligence without appetite [Aristotle] |
22537 | Property should be owned privately, but used communally [Aristotle] |
2825 | The good is obviously justice, which benefits the whole community, and involves equality in some sense [Aristotle] |
22527 | Justice is the order in a political community [Aristotle] |
22547 | Justice is equality for equals, and inequality for unequals [Aristotle] |
21044 | For Aristotle, debates about justice are debates about the good life [Aristotle, by Sandel] |
22573 | The virtue of justice may be relative to a particular constitution [Aristotle] |
2816 | If it is easy to change the laws, that makes them weaker [Aristotle] |
2806 | Man is the worst of all animals when divorced from law and justice [Aristotle] |
22556 | Laws that match people's habits are more effective than mere written rules [Aristotle] |
22551 | Correct law should be in control, with rulers only deciding uncertain issues [Aristotle] |
22554 | It is said that we should not stick strictly to written law, as it is too vague [Aristotle] |
2827 | It is preferable that law should rule rather than any single citizen [Aristotle] |
5246 | Natural justice is the same everywhere, and does not (unlike legal justice) depend on acceptance [Aristotle] |
20856 | Justice, the law, and right reason are natural and not conventional [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
2840 | The whole state should pay for the worship of the gods [Aristotle] |
2811 | A state is plural, and needs education to make it a community [Aristotle] |
22588 | A city has a single end, so education must focus on that, and be communal, not private [Aristotle] |
2847 | The aim of serious childhood play is the amusement of the complete adult [Aristotle] |
5150 | Intellectual virtue arises from instruction (and takes time), whereas moral virtue result from habit [Aristotle] |
2842 | Men learn partly by habit, and partly by listening [Aristotle] |
2844 | Abortions should be procured before the embryo has acquired life and sensation [Aristotle] |
5228 | A suicide embraces death to run away from hardships, rather than because it is a fine deed [Aristotle] |
1779 | We don't have obligations to animals as they aren't like us [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20857 | Justice is irrelevant to animals, because they are too unlike us [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20812 | Covers are for shields, and sheaths for swords; likewise, all in the cosmos is for some other thing [Chrysippus] |
2809 | If nature makes everything for a purpose, then plants and animals must have been made for man [Aristotle] |
2684 | Aristotle needed to distinguish teleological description from teleological explanation [Irwin on Aristotle] |
2800 | The best instruments have one purpose, not many [Aristotle] |
5227 | The nature of any given thing is determined by its end [Aristotle] |
21403 | The later Stoics identified the logos with an air-fire compound, called 'pneuma' [Chrysippus, by Long] |
20828 | Fire is a separate element, not formed with others (as was previously believed) [Chrysippus, by Stobaeus] |
5975 | Stoics say earth, air, fire and water are the primary elements [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
5219 | Types of cause are nature, necessity and chance, and mind and human agency [Aristotle] |
20819 | The past and the future subsist, but only the present exists [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
20818 | The present does not exist, so our immediate experience is actually part past and part future [Chrysippus, by Plutarch] |
20821 | Time is continous and infinitely divisible, so there cannot be a wholly present time [Chrysippus, by Stobaeus] |
2836 | God is not blessed and happy because of external goods, but because of his own nature [Aristotle] |
3048 | Stoics say that God the creator is the perfection of all animals [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
20773 | The origin of justice can only be in Zeus, and in nature [Chrysippus] |
5965 | The source of all justice is Zeus and the universal nature [Chrysippus] |
3042 | Stoics teach that law is identical with right reason, which is the will of Zeus [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
2802 | Men imagine gods to be of human shape, with a human lifestyle [Aristotle] |
1782 | Stoics teach that God is a unity, variously known as Mind, or Fate, or Jupiter [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius] |
24037 | We all assume immortality is impossible [Aristotle] |
20830 | Death can't separate soul from body, because incorporeal soul can't unite with body [Chrysippus] |
21404 | There is a rationale in terrible disasters; they are useful to the whole, and make good possible [Chrysippus] |