79 ideas
| 14857 | The highest wisdom has the guise of simplicity [Nietzsche] |
| 14854 | Deep thinkers know that they are always wrong [Nietzsche] |
| 14833 | Comedy is a transition from fear to exuberance [Nietzsche] |
| 16539 | A definition of a circle will show what it is, and show its generating principle [Lowe] |
| 16540 | Defining an ellipse by conic sections reveals necessities, but not the essence of an ellipse [Lowe] |
| 16548 | An essence is what an entity is, revealed by a real definition; this is not an entity in its own right [Lowe] |
| 16549 | Simple things like 'red' can be given real ostensive definitions [Lowe] |
| 14853 | Truth finds fewest champions not when it is dangerous, but when it is boring [Nietzsche] |
| 24075 | Convictions, more than lies, are the great enemy of truth [Nietzsche] |
| 18270 | Choice suggests that intensions are not needed to ensure classes [Coffa] |
| 16545 | The essence of lumps and statues shows that two objects coincide but are numerically distinct [Lowe] |
| 16546 | The essence of a bronze statue shows that it could be made of different bronze [Lowe] |
| 16551 | Grasping an essence is just grasping a real definition [Lowe] |
| 16542 | Explanation can't give an account of essence, because it is too multi-faceted [Lowe] |
| 16552 | If we must know some entity to know an essence, we lack a faculty to do that [Lowe] |
| 16533 | Logical necessities, based on laws of logic, are a proper sub-class of metaphysical necessities [Lowe] |
| 16531 | 'Metaphysical' necessity is absolute and objective - the strongest kind of necessity [Lowe] |
| 16532 | 'Epistemic' necessity is better called 'certainty' [Lowe] |
| 16543 | If an essence implies p, then p is an essential truth, and hence metaphysically necessary [Lowe] |
| 16544 | Metaphysical necessity is either an essential truth, or rests on essential truths [Lowe] |
| 16538 | We could give up possible worlds if we based necessity on essences [Lowe] |
| 14858 | Being certain presumes that there are absolute truths, and means of arriving at them [Nietzsche] |
| 18263 | The semantic tradition aimed to explain the a priori semantically, not by Kantian intuition [Coffa] |
| 18272 | Platonism defines the a priori in a way that makes it unknowable [Coffa] |
| 14830 | Intuition only recognises what is possible, not what exists or is certain [Nietzsche] |
| 16534 | 'Intuitions' are just unreliable 'hunches'; over centuries intuitions change enormously [Lowe] |
| 18266 | Mathematics generalises by using variables [Coffa] |
| 20378 | Just as skin hides the horrors of the body, vanity conceals the passions of the soul [Nietzsche] |
| 16535 | A concept is a way of thinking of things or kinds, whether or not they exist [Lowe] |
| 16550 | Direct reference doesn't seem to require that thinkers know what it is they are thinking about [Lowe] |
| 14820 | People always do what they think is right, according to the degree of their intellect [Nietzsche] |
| 14856 | Our judgment seems to cause our nature, but actually judgment arises from our nature [Nietzsche] |
| 14842 | Why are the strong tastes of other people so contagious? [Nietzsche] |
| 14835 | Artists are not especially passionate, but they pretend to be [Nietzsche] |
| 22473 | Nietzsche said the will doesn't exist, so it can't ground moral responsibility [Nietzsche, by Foot] |
| 14807 | The history of morality rests on an error called 'responsibility', which rests on an error called 'free will' [Nietzsche] |
| 14823 | Ceasing to believe in human responsibility is bitter, if you had based the nobility of humanity on it [Nietzsche] |
| 14824 | It is absurd to blame nature and necessity; we should no more praise actions than we praise plants or artworks [Nietzsche] |
| 14812 | Intellect is tied to morality, because it requires good memory and powerful imagination [Nietzsche] |
| 14810 | Originally it was the rulers who requited good for good and evil for evil who were called 'good' [Nietzsche] |
| 14831 | No one has ever done anything that was entirely for other people [Nietzsche] |
| 14855 | Simultaneous love and respect are impossible; love has no separation or rank, but respect admits power [Nietzsche] |
| 14815 | We get enormous pleasure from tales of noble actions [Nietzsche] |
| 14849 | We can only achieve happy moments, not happy eras [Nietzsche] |
| 14818 | First morality is force, then custom, then acceptance, then instinct, then a pleasure - and finally 'virtue' [Nietzsche] |
| 20103 | You are mastered by your own virtues, but you must master them, and turn them into tools [Nietzsche] |
| 14817 | The 'good' man does the moral thing as if by nature, easily and gladly, after a long inheritance [Nietzsche] |
| 14809 | All societies of good men give a priority to gratitude [Nietzsche] |
| 14816 | Justice (fairness) originates among roughly equal powers (as the Melian dialogues show) [Nietzsche] |
| 14821 | Apart from philosophers, most people rightly have a low estimate of pity [Nietzsche] |
| 20112 | Pity consoles those who suffer, because they see that they still have the power to hurt [Nietzsche] |
| 14841 | Many people are better at having good friends than being a good friend [Nietzsche] |
| 14843 | Women can be friends with men, but only some physical antipathy will maintain it [Nietzsche] |
| 14811 | In Homer it is the contemptible person, not the harmful person, who is bad [Nietzsche] |
| 20111 | We could live more naturally, relishing the spectacle, and not thinking we are special [Nietzsche] |
| 14844 | People do not experience boredom if they have never learned to work properly [Nietzsche] |
| 14808 | Over huge periods of time human character would change endlessly [Nietzsche] |
| 14822 | If self-defence is moral, then so are most expressions of 'immoral' egoism [Nietzsche] |
| 14838 | The state aims to protect individuals from one another [Nietzsche] |
| 14852 | Culture cannot do without passions and vices [Nietzsche] |
| 14846 | If we want the good life for the greatest number, we must let them decide on the good life [Nietzsche] |
| 14819 | Slavery cannot be judged by our standards, because the sense of justice was then less developed [Nietzsche] |
| 14847 | Laws that are well thought out, or laws that are easy to understand? [Nietzsche] |
| 14814 | Execution is worse than murder, because we are using the victim, and really we are the guilty [Nietzsche] |
| 14836 | People will enthusiastically pursue an unwanted war, once sacrifices have been made [Nietzsche] |
| 14845 | Don't crush girls with dull Gymnasium education, the way we have crushed boys! [Nietzsche] |
| 14848 | Education in large states is mediocre, like cooking in large kitchens [Nietzsche] |
| 14839 | Interest in education gains strength when we lose interest in God [Nietzsche] |
| 14834 | Teachers only gather knowledge for their pupils, and can't be serious about themselves [Nietzsche] |
| 14825 | In religious thought nature is a complex of arbitrary acts by conscious beings [Nietzsche] |
| 16547 | H2O isn't necessary, because different laws of nature might affect how O and H combine [Lowe] |
| 14826 | Modern man wants laws of nature in order to submit to them [Nietzsche] |
| 18279 | Relativity is as absolutist about space-time as Newton was about space [Coffa] |
| 14827 | The Greeks saw the gods not as their masters, but as idealised versions of themselves [Nietzsche] |
| 14813 | Science rejecting the teaching of Christianity in favour of Epicurus shows the superiority of the latter [Nietzsche] |
| 14832 | The Sermon on the Mount is vanity - praying to one part of oneself, and demonising the rest [Nietzsche] |
| 14850 | Christ was the noblest human being [Nietzsche] |
| 14837 | Christ seems warm hearted, and suppressed intellect in favour of the intellectually weak [Nietzsche] |
| 14828 | Religion is tempting if your life is boring, but you can't therefore impose it on the busy people [Nietzsche] |