75 ideas
5196 | Philosophy is a department of logic [Ayer] |
5189 | Philosophers should abandon speculation, as philosophy is wholly critical [Ayer] |
7919 | Humeans rejected the a priori synthetic, and so rejected even Kantian metaphysics [Ayer, by Macdonald,C] |
20121 | Grammar only reveals popular metaphysics [Nietzsche] |
5195 | Critics say analysis can only show the parts, and not their distinctive configuration [Ayer] |
5179 | Philosophy deals with the questions that scientists do not wish to handle [Ayer] |
24082 | Is the will to truth the desire to avoid deception? [Nietzsche] |
4749 | We cannot analyse the concept of 'truth', because it is simply a mark that a sentence is asserted [Ayer] |
5202 | Maths and logic are true universally because they are analytic or tautological [Ayer] |
20360 | We Germans value becoming and development more highly than mere being of what 'is' [Nietzsche] |
6523 | Positivists regard ontology as either meaningless or stipulated [Ayer, by Robinson,H] |
24077 | Necessity is thought to require an event, but is only an after-effect of the event [Nietzsche] |
20126 | The strength of knowledge is not its truth, but its entrenchment in our culture [Nietzsche] |
5183 | Only tautologies can be certain; other propositions can only be probable [Ayer] |
6525 | Logical positivists could never give the sense-data equivalent of 'there is a table next door' [Robinson,H on Ayer] |
5170 | Material things are constructions from actual and possible occurrences of sense-contents [Ayer] |
5198 | We could verify 'a thing can't be in two places at once' by destroying one of the things [Ierubino on Ayer] |
2619 | Whether geometry can be applied to reality is an empirical question outside of geometry [Ayer] |
5197 | By changing definitions we could make 'a thing can't be in two places at once' a contradiction [Ayer] |
5204 | To say that a proposition is true a priori is to say that it is a tautology [Ayer] |
20119 | We became increasingly conscious of our sense impressions in order to communicate them [Nietzsche] |
6524 | Positivists prefer sense-data to objects, because the vocabulary covers both illusions and perceptions [Ayer, by Robinson,H] |
5193 | Causal and representative theories of perception are wrong as they refer to unobservables [Ayer] |
5200 | The main claim of rationalism is that thought is an independent source of knowledge [Ayer] |
4729 | Empiricism lacked a decent account of the a priori, until Ayer said it was entirely analytic [O'Grady on Ayer] |
5180 | All propositions (especially 'metaphysics') must begin with the senses [Ayer] |
5169 | My empiricism logically distinguishes analytic and synthetic propositions, and metaphysical verbiage [Ayer] |
5185 | It is further sense-experience which informs us of the mistakes that arise out of sense-experience [Ayer] |
5199 | Empiricism, it is said, cannot account for our knowledge of necessary truths [Ayer] |
20122 | We have no organ for knowledge or truth; we only 'know' what is useful to the human herd [Nietzsche] |
4423 | We assume causes, geometry, motion, bodies etc to live, but they haven't been proved [Nietzsche] |
6579 | Nietzsche's perspectivism says our worldview depends on our personality [Nietzsche, by Fogelin] |
24083 | It would be absurd to say we are only permitted our own single perspective [Nietzsche] |
5190 | The induction problem is to prove generalisations about the future based on the past [Ayer] |
5191 | We can't use the uniformity of nature to prove induction, as that would be circular [Ayer] |
5177 | Other minds are 'metaphysical' objects, because I can never observe their experiences [Ayer] |
5178 | A conscious object is by definition one that behaves in a certain way, so behaviour proves consciousness [Ayer] |
20115 | All of our normal mental life could be conducted without consciousness [Nietzsche] |
20117 | Only the need for communication has led to consciousness developing [Nietzsche] |
20118 | Only our conscious thought is verbal, and this shows the origin of consciousness [Nietzsche] |
20116 | Most of our lives, even the important parts, take place outside of consciousness [Nietzsche] |
20120 | Whatever moves into consciousness becomes thereby much more superficial [Nietzsche] |
5172 | If the self is meaningful, it must be constructed from sense-experiences [Ayer] |
5173 | Two experiences belong to one self if their contents belong with one body [Ayer] |
5176 | Empiricists can define personal identity as bodily identity, which consists of sense-contents [Ayer] |
2932 | 'Know thyself' is impossible and ridiculous [Nietzsche] |
5171 | The supposed 'gulf' between mind and matter is based on the senseless concept of 'substances' [Ayer] |
24078 | Thoughts cannot be fully reproduced in words [Nietzsche] |
24081 | Most of our intellectual activity is unconscious [Nietzsche] |
5181 | A sentence is factually significant to someone if they know how to verify its proposition [Ayer] |
5184 | Factual propositions imply (in conjunction with a few other premises) possible experiences [Ayer] |
5186 | Tautologies and empirical hypotheses form the entire class of significant propositions [Ayer] |
468 | Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.] |
2933 | Why do you listen to the voice of your conscience? [Nietzsche] |
5205 | Moral intuition is worthless if there is no criterion to decide between intuitions [Ayer] |
20141 | Higher human beings see and hear far more than others, and do it more thoughtfully [Nietzsche] |
24076 | A morality ranks human drives and actions, for the sake of the herd, and subordinating individuals [Nietzsche] |
23725 | Ayer defends the emotivist version of expressivism [Ayer, by Smith,M] |
5206 | To say an act is wrong makes no further statement about it, but merely expresses disapproval [Ayer] |
22471 | Nietzsche thought it 'childish' to say morality isn't binding because it varies between cultures [Nietzsche, by Foot] |
2935 | No two actions are the same [Nietzsche] |
20198 | Many virtues are harmful traps, but that is why other people praise them [Nietzsche] |
4275 | You cannot advocate joyful wisdom while rejecting pity, because the two are complementary [Scruton on Nietzsche] |
2934 | To see one's own judgement as a universal law is selfish [Nietzsche] |
24080 | We should give style to our character - by applying an artistic plan to its strengths and weaknesses [Nietzsche] |
20125 | The ethical teacher exists to give purpose to what happens necessarily and without purpose [Nietzsche] |
9306 | To ward off boredom at any cost is vulgar [Nietzsche] |
24079 | The best life is the dangerous life [Nietzsche] |
2936 | Imagine if before each of your actions you had to accept repeating the action over and over again [Nietzsche] |
6842 | Nietzsche says facing up to the eternal return of meaninglessness is the response to nihilism [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
5208 | A person with non-empirical attributes is unintelligible. [Ayer] |
5187 | When we ascribe an attribute to a thing, we covertly assert that it exists [Ayer] |
2931 | God is dead, and we have killed him [Nietzsche] |
5207 | If theism is non-sensical, then so is atheism. [Ayer] |
5209 | The 'truths' expressed by theists are not literally significant [Ayer] |