121 ideas
19807 | Both nature and reason require that everything has a cause [Rousseau] |
3593 | The only way to specify the corresponding fact is asserting the sentence [Williams,M] |
3585 | Coherence needs positive links, not just absence of conflict [Williams,M] |
3584 | Justification needs coherence, while truth might be ideal coherence [Williams,M] |
3599 | Deduction shows entailments, not what to believe [Williams,M] |
12766 | Logical space is abstracted from the actual world [Stalnaker] |
12764 | For the bare particular view, properties must be features, not just groups of objects [Stalnaker] |
12761 | An essential property is one had in all the possible worlds where a thing exists [Stalnaker] |
12763 | Necessarily self-identical, or being what it is, or its world-indexed properties, aren't essential [Stalnaker] |
12762 | Bare particular anti-essentialism makes no sense within modal logic semantics [Stalnaker] |
12765 | Why imagine that Babe Ruth might be a billiard ball; nothing useful could be said about the ball [Stalnaker] |
3591 | We could never pin down how many beliefs we have [Williams,M] |
3582 | Propositions make error possible, so basic experiential knowledge is impossible [Williams,M] |
3592 | Phenomenalism is a form of idealism [Williams,M] |
3579 | Sense data avoid the danger of misrepresenting the world [Williams,M] |
3581 | Sense data can't give us knowledge if they are non-propositional [Williams,M] |
3564 | Is it people who are justified, or propositions? [Williams,M] |
3595 | What works always takes precedence over theories [Williams,M] |
3580 | Experience must be meaningful to act as foundations [Williams,M] |
3578 | Are empirical foundations judgements or experiences? [Williams,M] |
3576 | Foundationalists are torn between adequacy and security [Williams,M] |
3577 | Strong justification eliminates error, but also reduces our true beliefs [Williams,M] |
3589 | Why should diverse parts of our knowledge be connected? [Williams,M] |
3590 | Coherence theory must give a foundational status to coherence itself [Williams,M] |
3571 | Externalism does not require knowing that you know [Williams,M] |
3574 | Externalism ignores the social aspect of knowledge [Williams,M] |
3586 | Only a belief can justify a belief [Williams,M] |
3567 | How could there be causal relations to mathematical facts? [Williams,M] |
3569 | In the causal theory of knowledge the facts must cause the belief [Williams,M] |
3573 | Externalist reliability refers to a range of conventional conditions [Williams,M] |
3565 | Sometimes I ought to distrust sources which are actually reliable [Williams,M] |
3566 | We control our beliefs by virtue of how we enquire [Williams,M] |
3594 | Scepticism just reveals our limited ability to explain things [Williams,M] |
3575 | Scepticism can involve discrepancy, relativity, infinity, assumption and circularity [Williams,M] |
3587 | Seeing electrons in a cloud chamber requires theory [Williams,M] |
3588 | Foundationalists base meaning in words, coherentists base it in sentences [Williams,M] |
7235 | Without freedom of will actions lack moral significance [Rousseau] |
19791 | Natural mankind is too fragmented for states of peace, or of war and enmity [Rousseau] |
20501 | Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition [Rousseau, by Wolff,J] |
7237 | The act of becoming 'a people' is the real foundation of society [Rousseau] |
19792 | To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power [Rousseau] |
19812 | Human nature changes among a people, into a moral and partial existence [Rousseau] |
19814 | A state must be big enough to preserve itself, but small enough to be governable [Rousseau] |
19815 | Too much land is a struggle, producing defensive war; too little makes dependence, and offensive war [Rousseau] |
19822 | If the state enlarges, the creators of the general will become less individually powerful [Rousseau] |
19823 | If the population is larger, the government needs to be more powerful [Rousseau] |
7232 | Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains [Rousseau] |
7234 | No man has any natural authority over his fellows [Rousseau] |
19816 | A state's purpose is liberty and equality - liberty for strength, and equality for liberty [Rousseau] |
7247 | The greatest social good comes down to freedom and equality [Rousseau] |
19838 | The measure of a successful state is increase in its population [Rousseau] |
19848 | The sovereignty does not appoint the leaders [Rousseau] |
20567 | Rousseau insists that popular sovereignty needs a means of expressing consent [Rousseau, by Oksala] |
19801 | Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will, which can never be delegated [Rousseau] |
19805 | Just as people control their limbs, the general-will state has total control of its members [Rousseau] |
19818 | Political laws are fundamental, as they firmly organise the state - but they could still be changed [Rousseau] |
19790 | Force can only dominate if it is seen as a right, and obedience as a duty [Rousseau] |
7233 | The social order is a sacred right, but based on covenants, not nature [Rousseau] |
19842 | The government is instituted by a law, not by a contract [Rousseau] |
7239 | The social pact is the total subjection of individuals to the general will [Rousseau] |
19793 | We need a protective association which unites forces, but retains individual freedom [Rousseau] |
7240 | To foreign powers a state is seen as a simple individual [Rousseau] |
19795 | The act of association commits citizens to the state, and the state to its citizens [Rousseau] |
19796 | Individual citizens still retain a private will, which may be contrary to the general will [Rousseau] |
19797 | Citizens must ultimately for forced to accept the general will (so freedom is compulsory!) [Rousseau] |
7244 | The general will is common interest; the will of all is the sum of individual desires [Rousseau] |
19802 | The general will is always right, but the will of all can err, because it includes private interests [Rousseau] |
19803 | If the state contains associations there are fewer opinions, undermining the general will [Rousseau] |
19804 | If a large knowledgeable population votes in isolation, their many choices will have good results [Rousseau] |
19808 | The general will changes its nature when it focuses on particulars [Rousseau] |
7246 | The general will is always good, but sometimes misunderstood [Rousseau] |
7250 | Laws are authentic acts of the general will [Rousseau] |
19844 | Assemblies must always confirm the form of government, and the current administration [Rousseau] |
19846 | The more unanimous the assembly, the stronger the general will becomes [Rousseau] |
19817 | Citizens should be independent of each other, and very dependent on the state [Rousseau] |
19840 | A citizen is a subject who is also sovereign [Rousseau] |
19839 | The flourishing of arts and letters is too much admired [Rousseau] |
19798 | Ancient monarchs were kings of peoples; modern monarchs more cleverly rule a land [Rousseau] |
19831 | The highest officers under a monarchy are normally useless; the public could choose much better [Rousseau] |
19834 | Attempts to train future kings don't usually work, and the best have been unprepared [Rousseau] |
19833 | Hereditary monarchy is easier, but can lead to dreadful monarchs [Rousseau] |
19829 | Natural aristocracy is primitive, and hereditary is dreadful, but elective aristocracy is best [Rousseau] |
7249 | Natural aristocracy is primitive, hereditary is bad, and elective aristocracy is the best [Rousseau] |
19830 | Large states need a nobility to fill the gap between a single prince and the people [Rousseau] |
19827 | Law makers and law implementers should be separate [Rousseau] |
19820 | The state has a legislature and an executive, just like the will and physical power in a person [Rousseau] |
19821 | I call the executive power the 'government', which is the 'prince' - a single person, or a group [Rousseau] |
19824 | Large populations needs stronger control, which means power should be concentrated [Rousseau] |
19826 | Democracy for small states, aristocracy for intermediate, monarchy for large [Rousseau] |
19837 | If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult [Rousseau] |
19843 | The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders [Rousseau] |
19825 | If the sovereign entrusts government to at least half the citizens, that is 'democracy' [Rousseau] |
19832 | Democratic elections are dangerous intervals in government [Rousseau] |
7243 | Silence of the people implies their consent [Rousseau] |
7251 | The English are actually slaves in between elections [Rousseau] |
7238 | Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement [Rousseau] |
19828 | Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling [Rousseau] |
19835 | When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies [Rousseau] |
19849 | In early theocracies the god was the king, and there were as many gods as nations [Rousseau] |
19847 | We can never assume that the son of a slave is a slave [Rousseau] |
19841 | Sometimes full liberty is only possible at the expense of some complete enslavement [Rousseau] |
7242 | Appetite alone is slavery, and self-prescribed laws are freedom [Rousseau] |
19800 | The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally [Rousseau] |
7248 | No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself [Rousseau] |
19794 | If we all give up all of our rights together to the community, we will always support one another [Rousseau] |
7241 | In society man loses natural liberty, but gains a right to civil liberty and property [Rousseau] |
19806 | We alienate to society only what society needs - but society judges that, not us [Rousseau] |
19799 | Private property must always be subordinate to ownership by the whole community [Rousseau] |
19819 | The state ensures liberty, so civil law separates citizens, and binds them to the state [Rousseau] |
7245 | Natural justice, without sanctions, benefits the wicked, who exploit it [Rousseau] |
19809 | We accept the death penalty to prevent assassinations, so we must submit to it if necessary [Rousseau] |
19810 | A trial proves that a criminal has broken the social treaty, and is no longer a member of the state [Rousseau] |
19811 | Only people who are actually dangerous should be executed, even as an example [Rousseau] |
7236 | War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory [Rousseau] |
23607 | Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident [Rousseau] |
19850 | By separating theological and political systems, Jesus caused divisions in the state [Rousseau] |
19851 | Every society has a religion as its base [Rousseau] |
19852 | Civil religion needs one supreme god, an afterlife, justice, and the sanctity of the social contract [Rousseau] |
19853 | All religions should be tolerated, if they tolerate each other, and support citizenship [Rousseau] |
19836 | The amount of taxation doesn't matter, if it quickly circulates back to the citizens [Rousseau] |
7252 | A tyrant exploits Christians because they don't value this life, and are made to be slaves [Rousseau] |