70 ideas
7834 | Great philosophies are confessions by the author, growing out of moral intentions [Nietzsche] |
7080 | Metaphysics divided the old unified Greek world into two [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
11090 | Why do we want truth, rather than falsehood or ignorance? The value of truth is a problem [Nietzsche] |
7079 | Nietzsche resists nihilism through new values, for a world of becoming, without worship [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
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] |
4264 | Perception (which involves an assessment) is a higher state than sensation [Scruton] |
2878 | We see an approximation of a tree, not the full detail [Nietzsche] |
20140 | We shouldn't object to a false judgement, if it enhances and preserves life [Nietzsche] |
2877 | Morality becomes a problem when we compare many moralities [Nietzsche] |
4271 | There is consciousness whenever behaviour must be explained in terms of mental activity [Scruton] |
20355 | The ranking of a person's innermost drives reveals their true nature [Nietzsche] |
4272 | Our concept of a person is derived from Roman law [Scruton] |
2291 | A thought comes when 'it' wants, not when 'I' want [Nietzsche] |
2871 | Wanting 'freedom of will' is wanting to pull oneself into existence out of the swamp of nothingness by one's own hair [Nietzsche] |
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] |
20381 | It is psychology which reveals the basic problems [Nietzsche] |
468 | Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.] |
4284 | All moral life depends ultimately on piety, which is our recognition of our own dependence [Scruton] |
2860 | The most boring and dangerous of all errors is Plato's invention of pure spirit and goodness [Nietzsche] |
1568 | Nietzsche felt that Plato's views downgraded the human body and its brevity of life [Nietzsche, by Roochnik] |
2883 | Noble people see themselves as the determiners of values [Nietzsche] |
23440 | Nietzsche's judgement of actions by psychology instead of outcome was poisonous [Foot on Nietzsche] |
2875 | That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil [Nietzsche] |
2868 | Nature is totally indifferent, so you should try to be different from it, not live by it [Nietzsche] |
2882 | Morality originally judged people, and actions only later on [Nietzsche] |
2872 | In the earliest phase of human history only consequences mattered [Nietzsche] |
2885 | The noble soul has reverence for itself [Nietzsche] |
4273 | Kant's Moral Law is the rules rational beings would accept when trying to live by agreement [Scruton] |
20134 | Moralities extravagantly address themselves to 'all', by falsely generalising [Nietzsche] |
2881 | Virtue has been greatly harmed by the boringness of its advocates [Nietzsche] |
20382 | The four virtues are courage, insight, sympathy, solitude [Nietzsche] |
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] |
2879 | In ancient Rome pity was considered neither good nor bad [Nietzsche] |
4283 | Sympathy can undermine the moral order just as much as crime does [Scruton] |
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] |
2859 | The idea of the categorical imperative is just that we should all be very obedient [Nietzsche] |
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] |
2884 | The morality of slaves is the morality of utility [Nietzsche] |
2880 | The greatest possibilities in man are still unexhausted [Nietzsche] |
2876 | The thought of suicide is a great reassurance on bad nights [Nietzsche] |
7078 | The freedom of the subject means the collapse of moral certainty [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
2874 | Man is the animal whose nature has not yet been fixed [Nietzsche] |
6869 | Nietzsche thinks the human condition is to overcome and remake itself [Nietzsche, by Ansell Pearson] |
20137 | The great person engages wholly with life, and is happy to endlessly relive the life they created [Nietzsche] |
20139 | Only aristocratic societies can elevate the human species [Nietzsche] |
20373 | A healthy aristocracy has no qualms about using multitudes of men as instruments [Nietzsche] |
22394 | Democracy diminishes mankind, making them mediocre and lowering their value [Nietzsche] |
4295 | We favour our own animals over foreign ones because we see them as fellow citizens [Scruton] |
4268 | Animals command our sympathy and moral concern initially because of their intentionality [Scruton] |
4291 | Letting your dog kill wild rats, and keeping rats for your dog to kill, are very different [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] |
4296 | Brutal animal sports are banned because they harm the personality of the watcher [Scruton] |
4288 | Many breeds of animals have needs which our own ancestors planted in them [Scruton] |
4293 | Introducing a natural means of controlling animal population may not be very compassionate [Scruton] |
2867 | Christianity is Platonism for the people [Nietzsche] |