51 ideas
125 | Is a gifted philosopher unmanly if he avoids the strife of the communal world? [Plato] |
1654 | In "Gorgias" Socrates is confident that his 'elenchus' will decide moral truth [Vlastos on Plato] |
4321 | We should test one another, by asking and answering questions [Plato] |
114 | Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong [Plato] |
116 | Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends [Plato] |
135 | All activity aims at the good [Plato] |
122 | Moral rules are made by the weak members of humanity [Plato] |
139 | A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato] |
128 | Is it natural to simply indulge our selfish desires? [Plato] |
136 | Good should be the aim of pleasant activity, not the other way round [Plato] |
4322 | In slaking our thirst the goodness of the action and the pleasure are clearly separate [Plato] |
134 | Good and bad people seem to experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain [Plato] |
4319 | In a fool's mind desire is like a leaky jar, insatiable in its desires, and order and contentment are better [Plato] |
132 | If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness [Plato] |
130 | Is the happiest state one of sensual, self-indulgent freedom? [Plato] |
120 | Should we avoid evil because it will bring us bad consequences? [Plato] |
118 | I would rather be a victim of crime than a criminal [Plato] |
140 | Self-indulgent desire makes friendship impossible, because it makes a person incapable of co-operation [Plato] |
131 | If absence of desire is happiness, then nothing is happier than a stone or a corpse [Plato] |
129 | Do most people praise self-discipline and justice because they are too timid to gain their own pleasure? [Plato] |
119 | A criminal is worse off if he avoids punishment [Plato] |
20547 | We should respect the right of people to live in their own way, even if it is irrational [Swift] |
4320 | The popular view is that health is first, good looks second, and honest wealth third [Plato] |
20564 | Anti-colonial movements usually invoke the right of their 'people' to self-determination [Swift] |
20535 | Isn't it more rational to maximise the average position, but with a safety net? [Swift] |
137 | As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly [Plato] |
20537 | Hypothetical contracts have no binding force [Swift] |
20542 | Cosmopolitans reject the right of different states to distribute resources in different ways [Swift] |
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] |
20560 | Teledemocracy omits debate and deliberation, which are important parts of good decisions [Swift] |
141 | A good citizen won't be passive, but will redirect the needs of the state [Plato] |
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] |
20551 | Men have had the power to structure all of our social institutions [Swift] |
20545 | Maybe a freedom is from a restraint, and also in order to do something [Swift] |
123 | Do most people like equality because they are second-rate? [Plato] |
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] |
124 | Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits? [Plato] |
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] |
6005 | Animals are dangerous and nourishing, and can't form contracts of justice [Hermarchus, by Sedley] |