59 ideas
| 19917 | Without reason and human help, human life is misery [Spinoza] |
| 16236 | Maybe our persistence conditions concern bodies, rather than persons [Olson, by Hawley] |
| 6669 | For 'animalism', I exist before I became a person, and can continue after it, so I am not a person [Olson, by Lowe] |
| 19922 | People are only free if they are guided entirely by reason [Spinoza] |
| 20547 | We should respect the right of people to live in their own way, even if it is irrational [Swift] |
| 19935 | Peoples are created by individuals, not by nature, and only distinguished by language and law [Spinoza] |
| 20564 | Anti-colonial movements usually invoke the right of their 'people' to self-determination [Swift] |
| 19914 | In nature everything has an absolute right to do anything it is capable of doing [Spinoza] |
| 19915 | Natural rights are determined by desire and power, not by reason [Spinoza] |
| 20535 | Isn't it more rational to maximise the average position, but with a safety net? [Swift] |
| 7487 | Society exists to extend human awareness [Spinoza, by Watson] |
| 19943 | The state aims to allow personal development, so its main purpose is freedom [Spinoza] |
| 19930 | Sovereignty must include the power to make people submit to it [Spinoza] |
| 20537 | Hypothetical contracts have no binding force [Swift] |
| 20542 | Cosmopolitans reject the right of different states to distribute resources in different ways [Swift] |
| 19936 | Kings tend to fight wars for glory, rather than for peace and liberty [Spinoza] |
| 19940 | Deposing a monarch is dangerous, because the people are used to royal authority [Spinoza] |
| 19937 | Monarchs are always proud, and can't back down [Spinoza] |
| 19931 | Every state is more frightened of its own citizens than of external enemies [Spinoza] |
| 20559 | Democracy is bad, but the other systems are worse [Swift] |
| 20561 | Since all opinions are treated as equal in democracy, it implies there are no right answers [Swift] |
| 20562 | Design your democracy to treat citizens equally, or to produce better citizens? [Swift] |
| 20563 | Design your democracy to yield political stability, or good decisions? [Swift] |
| 19920 | Democracy is a legitimate gathering of people who do whatever they can do [Spinoza] |
| 20560 | Teledemocracy omits debate and deliberation, which are important parts of good decisions [Swift] |
| 20554 | Multiculturalism is a barrier to the whole state being a community [Swift] |
| 20553 | Liberals mistakenly think individuals choose their values, without reference to the community [Swift] |
| 20556 | The best way to build a cohesive community is to be involved in a war [Swift] |
| 20557 | Membership and inclusion in a community implies non-membership and exclusion [Swift] |
| 20555 | Liberals are concerned to protect individuals from too much community [Swift] |
| 20540 | Redistributing wealth treats some people as means, rather than as ends [Swift] |
| 19938 | Allowing religious ministers any control of the state is bad for both parties [Spinoza] |
| 19933 | If religion is law, then piety is justice, impiety is crime, and non-believers must leave [Spinoza] |
| 20551 | Men have had the power to structure all of our social institutions [Swift] |
| 19923 | Slavery is not just obedience, but acting only in the interests of the master [Spinoza] |
| 19939 | Government is oppressive if opinions can be crimes, because people can't give them up [Spinoza] |
| 19944 | Without liberty of thought there is no trust in the state, and corruption follows [Spinoza] |
| 19942 | Treason may be committed as much by words as by deeds [Spinoza] |
| 20545 | Maybe a freedom is from a restraint, and also in order to do something [Swift] |
| 19924 | The freest state is a rational one, where people can submit themselves to reason [Spinoza] |
| 20550 | Opportunity should ignore extraneous factors, or foster competence, or ignore all disadvantages [Swift] |
| 20536 | Inequalities are needed, as incentives to do the most important jobs [Swift] |
| 20548 | A person can desire redistibution of wealth, without it being for reasons of equality [Swift] |
| 7827 | Spinoza wanted democracy based on individual rights, and is thus the first modern political philosopher [Stewart,M on Spinoza] |
| 19926 | The sovereignty has absolute power over citizens [Spinoza] |
| 19918 | Forming a society meant following reason, and giving up dangerous appetites and mutual harm [Spinoza] |
| 19919 | People only give up their rights, and keep promises, if they hope for some greater good [Spinoza] |
| 19921 | Once you have given up your rights, there is no going back [Spinoza] |
| 19925 | In democracy we don't abandon our rights, but transfer them to the majority of us [Spinoza] |
| 19928 | No one, in giving up their power and right, ceases to be a human being [Spinoza] |
| 19929 | Everyone who gives up their rights must fear the recipients of them [Spinoza] |
| 19932 | The early Hebrews, following Moses, gave up their rights to God alone [Spinoza] |
| 20541 | You can't necessarily sell your legitimate right to something, even if you produced it [Swift] |
| 20546 | Libertarians about property ignore the fact that private property is a denial of freedoms [Swift] |
| 20533 | Justice can be seen as fairness or entitlement or desert [Swift] |
| 19916 | The order of nature does not prohibit anything, and allows whatever appetite produces [Spinoza] |
| 19927 | State and religious law can clash, so the state must make decisions about religion [Spinoza] |
| 19934 | Hebrews were very hostile to other states, who had not given up their rights to God [Spinoza] |
| 4300 | The Bible has nothing in common with reasoning and philosophy [Spinoza] |