55 ideas
| 501 | Reason is a more powerful persuader than gold [Democritus (attr)] |
| 4643 | The Principle of Sufficient Reason does not presuppose that all explanations will be causal explanations [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4633 | You cannot rationally deny the principle of non-contradiction, because all reasoning requires it [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4635 | Dialectic aims at unified truth, unlike analysis, which divides into parts [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4632 | 'Natural' systems of deduction are based on normal rational practice, rather than on axioms [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4631 | In ideal circumstances, an axiom should be such that no rational agent could possibly object to its use [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4638 | The principle of bivalence distorts reality, as when claiming that a person is or is not 'thin' [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4640 | If identity is based on 'true of X' instead of 'property of X' we get the Masked Man fallacy ('I know X but not Y') [Baggini /Fosl, by PG] |
| 4647 | 'I have the same car as you' is fine; 'I have the same fiancée as you' is not so good [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4639 | Leibniz's Law is about the properties of objects; the Identity of Indiscernibles is about perception of objects [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4646 | Is 'events have causes' analytic a priori, synthetic a posteriori, or synthetic a priori? [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4645 | 'A priori' does not concern how you learn a proposition, but how you show whether it is true or false [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4582 | Basic beliefs are self-evident, or sensual, or intuitive, or revealed, or guaranteed [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4644 | A proposition such as 'some swans are purple' cannot be falsified, only verified [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4584 | The problem of induction is how to justify our belief in the uniformity of nature [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4583 | How can an argument be good induction, but poor deduction? [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4634 | Abduction aims at simplicity, testability, coherence and comprehensiveness [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 4637 | To see if an explanation is the best, it is necessary to investigate the alternative explanations [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 2584 | Lobotomised patients can cease to care about a pain [Block] |
| 2582 | A brain looks no more likely than anything else to cause qualia [Block] |
| 2574 | Behaviour requires knowledge as well as dispositions [Block] |
| 2576 | In functionalism, desires are internal states with causal relations [Block] |
| 2575 | Functionalism is behaviourism, but with mental states as intermediaries [Block] |
| 2583 | You might invert colours, but you can't invert beliefs [Block] |
| 2578 | Could a creature without a brain be in the right functional state for pain? [Block] |
| 2585 | Not just any old functional network will have mental states [Block] |
| 2586 | In functionalism, what are the special inputs and outputs of conscious creatures? [Block] |
| 2579 | Physicalism is prejudiced in favour of our neurology, when other systems might have minds [Block] |
| 4629 | Consistency is the cornerstone of rationality [Baggini /Fosl] |
| 2577 | Simple machine-functionalism says mind just is a Turing machine [Block] |
| 2580 | A Turing machine, given a state and input, specifies an output and the next state [Block] |
| 2581 | Intuition may say that a complex sentence is ungrammatical, but linguistics can show that it is not [Block] |
| 514 | Beauty is merely animal without intelligence [Democritus (attr)] |
| 525 | Behave well when alone, and feel shame in you own eyes [Democritus (attr)] |
| 502 | Good breeding in men means having a good character [Democritus (attr)] |
| 507 | Virtuous love consists of decorous desire for the beautiful [Democritus (attr)] |
| 521 | We should only choose pleasures which are concerned with the beautiful [Democritus (attr)] |
| 505 | Good and true are the same for everyone, but pleasures differ [Democritus (attr)] |
| 508 | Only accept beneficial pleasures [Democritus (attr)] |
| 520 | The great pleasures come from the contemplation of noble works [Democritus (attr)] |
| 522 | Moderation brings more pleasures, and so increases pleasure [Democritus (attr)] |
| 506 | Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not an adult [Democritus (attr)] |
| 523 | It is as brave to master pleasure as to overcome the enemy [Democritus (attr)] |
| 497 | Be virtuous from duty, not from fear [Democritus (attr)] |
| 518 | A bad life is just a drawn-out death [Democritus (attr)] |
| 503 | Virtue doesn't just avoid evil, but also doesn't desire it [Democritus (attr)] |
| 499 | Repentance of shameful deeds is salvation [Democritus (attr)] |
| 524 | Virtue comes more from practice than from nature [Democritus (attr)] |
| 519 | One must avoid even speaking of evil deeds [Democritus (attr)] |
| 500 | The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the person wronged [Democritus (attr)] |
| 1539 | The endless desire for money is a crueller slavery than poverty [Democritus (attr)] |
| 526 | Small appetite makes poverty equal to wealth [Democritus (attr)] |
| 511 | It is better to have one intelligent friend than many unintelligent [Democritus (attr)] |
| 498 | It is a great thing, when one is in adversity, to think of duty [Democritus (attr)] |
| 1541 | It is better to be poor in a democracy than be rich without freedom [Democritus (attr)] |