98 ideas
23350 | A wise philosophers uses reason to cautiously judge each aspect of living [Epictetus] |
23355 | The task of philosophy is to establish standards, as occurs with weights and measures [Epictetus] |
21394 | Philosophy is knowing each logos, how they fit together, and what follows from them [Epictetus] |
20876 | Philosophy investigates the causes of disagreements, and seeks a standard for settling them [Epictetus] |
23344 | Reason itself must be compounded from some of our impressions [Epictetus] |
23343 | Because reason performs all analysis, we should analyse reason - but how? [Epictetus] |
23359 | We can't believe apparent falsehoods, or deny apparent truths [Epictetus] |
23356 | Self-evidence is most obvious when people who deny a proposition still have to use it [Epictetus] |
13165 | Geometrical proofs do not show causes, as when we prove a triangle contains two right angles [Proclus] |
23329 | We make progress when we improve and naturalise our choices, asserting their freedom [Epictetus] |
23342 | Freedom is acting by choice, with no constraint possible [Epictetus] |
23330 | Freedom is making all things happen by choice, without constraint [Epictetus] |
23332 | Zeus gave me a nature which is free (like himself) from all compulsion [Epictetus] |
23331 | Not even Zeus can control what I choose [Epictetus] |
23338 | You can fetter my leg, but not even Zeus can control my power of choice [Epictetus] |
20875 | If we could foresee the future, we should collaborate with disease and death [Epictetus] |
23347 | If I know I am fated to be ill, I should want to be ill [Epictetus] |
9569 | The origin of geometry started in sensation, then moved to calculation, and then to reason [Proclus] |
23325 | Epictetus developed a notion of will as the source of our responsibility [Epictetus, by Frede,M] |
20873 | Tragedies are versified sufferings of people impressed by externals [Epictetus] |
23364 | Homer wrote to show that the most blessed men can be ruined by poor judgement [Epictetus] |
23340 | We consist of animal bodies and god-like reason [Epictetus] |
23358 | Every species produces exceptional beings, and we must just accept their nature [Epictetus] |
19956 | True goodness is political, and consists of love of and submission to the laws [Montesquieu] |
23339 | I will die as becomes a person returning what he does not own [Epictetus] |
23345 | Don't be frightened of pain or death; only be frightened of fearing them [Epictetus] |
23357 | Knowledge of what is good leads to love; only the wise, who distinguish good from evil, can love [Epictetus] |
23363 | The evil for everything is what is contrary to its nature [Epictetus] |
23328 | The essences of good and evil are in dispositions to choose [Epictetus] |
23362 | All human ills result from failure to apply preconceptions to particular cases [Epictetus] |
23353 | We have a natural sense of honour [Epictetus] |
23354 | If someone harms themselves in harming me, then I harm myself by returning the harm [Epictetus] |
23324 | In the Discourses choice [prohairesis] defines our character and behaviour [Epictetus, by Frede,M] |
23361 | Health is only a good when it is used well [Epictetus] |
19962 | Men do not desire to subjugate one another; domination is a complex and advanced idea [Montesquieu] |
23346 | A person is as naturally a part of a city as a foot is part of the body [Epictetus] |
19961 | Primitive people would be too vulnerable and timid to attack anyone, so peace would reign [Montesquieu] |
19963 | People are drawn into society by needs, shared fears, pleasure, and knowledge [Montesquieu] |
20008 | People are guided by a multitude of influences, from which the spirit of a nation emerges [Montesquieu] |
23351 | We are citizens of the universe, and principal parts of it [Epictetus] |
19993 | In small republics citizens identify with the public good, and abuses are fewer [Montesquieu] |
19992 | In a large republic there is too much wealth for individuals to manage it [Montesquieu] |
20005 | The rich would never submit to a lottery deciding which part of their society should be slaves [Montesquieu] |
19995 | All states aim at preservation, and then have distinctive individual purposes [Montesquieu] |
20874 | A citizen is committed to ignore private advantage, and seek communal good [Epictetus] |
23352 | A citizen should only consider what is good for the whole society [Epictetus] |
19964 | The natural power of a father suggests rule by one person, but that authority can be spread [Montesquieu] |
19986 | Monarchies can act more quickly, because one person is in charge [Montesquieu] |
19972 | The nobility are an indispensable part of a monarchy [Montesquieu] |
19974 | Monarchs must not just have links to the people; they need a body which maintains the laws [Montesquieu] |
19976 | Ambition is good in a monarchy, because the monarch can always restrain it [Montesquieu] |
19978 | In monarchies, men's actions are judged by their grand appearance, not their virtues [Montesquieu] |
19985 | In a monarchy, the nobility must be hereditary, to bind them together [Montesquieu] |
19988 | A despot's agents must be given power, so they inevitably become corrupt [Montesquieu] |
19977 | Despotism and honour are incompatible, because honour scorns his power, and lives by rules [Montesquieu] |
20007 | Tyranny is either real violence, or the imposition of unpopular legislation [Montesquieu] |
19975 | Despots are always lazy and ignorant, so they always delegate their power to a vizier [Montesquieu] |
19989 | The will of a despot is an enigma, so magistrates can only follow their own will [Montesquieu] |
19970 | If the nobility is numerous, the senate is the artistocracy, and the nobles are a democracy [Montesquieu] |
19971 | Aristocracy is democratic if they resemble the people, but not if they resemble the monarch [Montesquieu] |
19984 | Great inequality between aristocrats and the rest is bad - and also among aristocrats themselves [Montesquieu] |
19980 | If a government is to be preserved, it must first be loved [Montesquieu] |
19996 | A government has a legislature, an international executive, and a domestic executive [Montesquieu] |
19997 | The judiciary must be separate from the legislature, to avoid arbitrary power [Montesquieu] |
19965 | The fundamental laws of a democracy decide who can vote [Montesquieu] |
19968 | It is basic to a democracy that the people themselves must name their ministers [Montesquieu] |
19969 | Voting should be public, so the lower classes can be influenced by the example of notable people [Montesquieu] |
19999 | All citizens (apart from the very humble poor) should choose their representatives [Montesquieu] |
19967 | In a democracy the people should manage themselves, and only delegate what they can't do [Montesquieu] |
19966 | A democratic assembly must have a fixed number, to see whether everyone has spoken [Montesquieu] |
19998 | If deputies represent people, they are accountable, but less so if they represent places [Montesquieu] |
20003 | Slaves are not members of the society, so no law can forbid them to run away [Montesquieu] |
20000 | Slavery is entirely bad; the master abandons the virtues, and they are pointless in the slave [Montesquieu] |
20006 | The demand for slavery is just the masters' demand for luxury [Montesquieu] |
20009 | Freedom of speech and writing, within the law, is essential to preserve liberty [Montesquieu] |
19994 | Freedom in society is ability to do what is right, and not having to do what is wrong [Montesquieu] |
19981 | No one even thinks of equality in monarchies and despotism; they all want superiority [Montesquieu] |
19991 | Equality is not command by everyone or no one, but command and obedience among equals [Montesquieu] |
19990 | Democracy is corrupted by lack of equality, or by extreme equality (between rulers and ruled) [Montesquieu] |
19983 | Democracies may sometimes need to restrict equality [Montesquieu] |
19982 | Some equality can be achieved by social categories, combined with taxes and poor relief [Montesquieu] |
19959 | Prior to positive laws there is natural equity, of obedience, gratitude, dependence and merit [Montesquieu] |
19960 | Sensation gives animals natural laws, but knowledge can make them break them [Montesquieu] |
22604 | Punishing a criminal for moral ignorance is the same as punishing someone for being blind [Epictetus] |
20002 | The death penalty is permissible, because its victims enjoyed the protection of that law [Montesquieu] |
20010 | If religion teaches determinism, penalties must be severe; if free will, then that is different [Montesquieu] |
20001 | The only right victors have over captives is the protection of the former [Montesquieu] |
19973 | The clergy are essential to a monarchy, but dangerous in a republic [Montesquieu] |
19987 | Religion has the most influence in despotic states, and reinforces veneration for the ruler [Montesquieu] |
20011 | Religion can support the state when the law fails to do so [Montesquieu] |
20004 | French slavery was accepted because it was the best method of religious conversion [Montesquieu] |
19979 | In monarchies education ennobles people, and in despotisms it debases them [Montesquieu] |
19957 | Teaching is the best practice of the general virtue that leads us to love everyone [Montesquieu] |
23349 | Asses are born to carry human burdens, not as ends in themselves [Epictetus] |
19958 | Laws are the necessary relations that derive from the nature of things [Montesquieu] |
23341 | God created humans as spectators and interpreters of God's works [Epictetus] |
23348 | Both god and the good bring benefits, so their true nature seems to be the same [Epictetus] |
23360 | Each of the four elements in you is entirely scattered after death [Epictetus] |