47 ideas
3600 | Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress [Descartes] |
3601 | Most things in human life seem vain and useless [Descartes] |
3602 | Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher [Descartes] |
3603 | Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic [Descartes, by PG] |
3612 | Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists [Descartes] |
3610 | Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure [Descartes] |
7720 | Two things can only resemble one another in some respect, and that may reintroduce a universal [Lowe] |
7712 | On substances, Leibniz emphasises unity, Spinoza independence, Locke relations to qualities [Lowe] |
3605 | We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it [Descartes] |
1583 | In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology [Roochnik on Descartes] |
3607 | In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain [Descartes] |
3617 | I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind [Descartes] |
7710 | Perception is a mode of belief-acquisition, and does not involve sensation [Lowe] |
7711 | Science requires a causal theory - perception of an object must be an experience caused by the object [Lowe] |
3611 | Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge [Descartes] |
3606 | I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand [Descartes] |
3604 | When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings [Descartes] |
3618 | Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations [Descartes] |
3615 | Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all [Descartes] |
8143 | Self is the rider, intellect the charioteer, mind the reins, and body the chariot [Anon (Upan)] |
3609 | I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support [Descartes] |
8147 | We have an apparent and a true self; only the second one exists, and we must seek to know it [Anon (Upan)] |
7714 | Personal identity is a problem across time (diachronic) and at an instant (synchronic) [Lowe] |
3608 | I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence [Descartes] |
3613 | Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs [Descartes] |
3616 | The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations [Descartes] |
7715 | Mentalese isn't a language, because it isn't conventional, or a means of public communication [Lowe] |
3614 | A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation [Descartes] |
8155 | Without speech we cannot know right/wrong, true/false, good/bad, or pleasant/unpleasant [Anon (Upan)] |
7722 | If meaning is mental pictures, explain "the cat (or dog!) is NOT on the mat" [Lowe] |
8142 | The wise prefer good to pleasure; the foolish are drawn to pleasure by desire [Anon (Upan)] |
1581 | Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them [Descartes] |
8151 | Let your teacher be a god to you [Anon (Upan)] |
8153 | By knowing one piece of clay or gold, you know all of clay or gold [Anon (Upan)] |
16686 | God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us [Descartes] |
8154 | Originally there must have been just Existence, which could not come from non-existence [Anon (Upan)] |
8148 | Brahma, supreme god and protector of the universe, arose from the ocean of existence [Anon (Upan)] |
8144 | Brahman is the Uncaused Cause [Anon (Upan)] |
8152 | Earth, food, fire, sun are all forms of Brahman [Anon (Upan)] |
8159 | Damayata - be self-controlled! Datta - be charitable! Dayadhwam - be compassionate! [Anon (Upan)] |
8156 | The gods are not worshipped for their own sake, but for the sake of the Self [Anon (Upan)] |
8157 | A man with desires is continually reborn, until his desires are stilled [Anon (Upan)] |
8145 | Those ignorant of Atman return as animals or plants, according to their merits [Anon (Upan)] |
8149 | Charity and ritual observance distract from the highest good of religion [Anon (Upan)] |
8158 | Do not seek to know Brahman by arguments, for arguments are idle and vain [Anon (Upan)] |
8146 | The immortal in us is the part that never sleeps, and shapes our dreams [Anon (Upan)] |
8150 | The immortal Self and the sad individual self are like two golden birds perched on one tree [Anon (Upan)] |