32 ideas
5311 | If observation goes up a level, we expect the laws of the lower level to remain in force [Wilson,EO] |
5312 | A child first sees objects as distinct, and later as members of groups [Wilson,EO] |
304 | Beautiful things must be different from beauty itself, but beauty itself must be present in each of them [Plato] |
16120 | Knowing how to achieve immortality is pointless without the knowledge how to use immortality [Plato] |
5309 | Beliefs are really enabling mechanisms for survival [Wilson,EO] |
303 | Say how many teeth the other has, then count them. If you are right, we will trust your other claims [Plato] |
6685 | 'Subjectivism' is an extension of relativism from the social group to the individual [Graham] |
302 | What knowledge is required to live well? [Plato] |
5310 | Philosophers study the consequences of ethics instead of its origins [Wilson,EO] |
6699 | The chain of consequences may not be the same as the chain of responsibility [Graham] |
5313 | The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature' [Wilson,EO] |
5316 | We undermine altruism by rewarding it, but we reward it to encourage it [Wilson,EO] |
5318 | Pure hard-core altruism based on kin selection is the enemy of civilisation [Wilson,EO] |
301 | Only knowledge of some sort is good [Plato] |
6698 | Negative consequences are very hard (and possibly impossible) to assess [Graham] |
6700 | We can't criticise people because of unforeseeable consequences [Graham] |
6704 | Egoism submits to desires, but cannot help form them [Graham] |
5317 | The actor is most convincing who believes that his performance is real [Wilson,EO] |
305 | Something which lies midway between two evils is better than either of them [Plato] |
6701 | Rescue operations need spontaneous benevolence, not careful thought [Graham] |
6693 | 'What if everybody did that?' rather misses the point as an objection to cheating [Graham] |
6691 | It is more plausible to say people can choose between values, than that they can create them [Graham] |
6688 | Life is only absurd if you expected an explanation and none turns up [Graham] |
6705 | Existentialism may transcend our nature, unlike eudaimonism [Graham] |
6690 | A standard problem for existentialism is the 'sincere Nazi' [Graham] |
6689 | The key to existentialism: the way you make choices is more important than what you choose [Graham] |
5308 | The only human purpose is that created by our genetic history [Wilson,EO] |
5314 | Cultural evolution is Lamarckian and fast, biological evolution is Darwinian and slow [Wilson,EO] |
5315 | Over 99 percent of human evolution has been in the hunter-gatherer phase [Wilson,EO] |
5320 | It is estimated that mankind has produced 100,000 religions [Wilson,EO] |
6706 | The great religions are much more concerned with the religious life than with ethics [Graham] |
6709 | Western religion saves us from death; Eastern religion saves us from immortality [Graham] |