65 ideas
| 8014 | Resolve a complex into simple elements, then reconstruct the complex by using them [Hobbes, by MacIntyre] |
| 20981 | What justifies reliance on reason? Is it just a tool? Why is it better than blind belief? [Sen] |
| 20982 | In politics and ethics, scrutiny from different perspectives is essential for objectivity [Sen] |
| 7559 | Every part of the universe is body, and non-body is not part of it [Hobbes] |
| 9216 | Each area of enquiry, and its source, has its own distinctive type of necessity [Fine,K] |
| 2356 | Appearance and reality can be separated by mirrors and echoes [Hobbes] |
| 9214 | Unsupported testimony may still be believable [Fine,K] |
| 2357 | Dreams must be false because they seem absurd, but dreams don't see waking as absurd [Hobbes] |
| 2358 | Freedom is absence of opposition to action; the idea of 'free will' is absurd [Hobbes] |
| 6214 | Liberty and necessity are consistent, as when water freely flows, by necessity [Hobbes] |
| 23987 | The 'simple passions' are appetite, desire, love, aversion, hate, joy, and grief [Hobbes, by Goldie] |
| 20990 | Rationality is conformity to reasons that can be sustained even after scrutiny [Sen] |
| 2362 | The will is just the last appetite before action [Hobbes] |
| 2363 | Reason is usually general, but deliberation is of particulars [Hobbes] |
| 2360 | 'Good' is just what we desire, and 'Evil' what we hate [Hobbes] |
| 2368 | Men's natural desires are no sin, and neither are their actions, until law makes it so [Hobbes] |
| 2359 | Desire and love are the same, but in the desire the object is absent, and in love it is present [Hobbes] |
| 2370 | All voluntary acts aim at some good for the doer [Hobbes] |
| 2371 | A contract is a mutual transfer of rights [Hobbes] |
| 2372 | The person who performs first in a contract is said to 'merit' the return, and is owed it [Hobbes] |
| 8015 | Hobbes wants a contract to found morality, but shared values are needed to make a contract [MacIntyre on Hobbes] |
| 5337 | For Hobbes the Golden Rule concerns not doing things, whereas Jesus encourages active love [Hobbes, by Flanagan] |
| 2374 | In the violent state of nature, the merest suspicion is enough to justify breaking a contract [Hobbes] |
| 8016 | Fear of sanctions is the only motive for acceptance of authority that Hobbes can think of [MacIntyre on Hobbes] |
| 2375 | Suspicion will not destroy a contract, if there is a common power to enforce it [Hobbes] |
| 2377 | No one who admitted to not keeping contracts could ever be accepted as a citizen [Hobbes] |
| 2379 | If there is a good reason for breaking a contract, the same reason should have stopped the making of it [Hobbes] |
| 2373 | The first performer in a contract is handing himself over to an enemy [Hobbes] |
| 2382 | Someone who keeps all his contracts when others are breaking them is making himself a prey to others [Hobbes] |
| 21005 | A human right is not plausible if public scrutiny might reject it [Sen] |
| 2383 | Virtues are a means to peaceful, sociable and comfortable living [Hobbes] |
| 2376 | Injustice is the failure to keep a contract, and justice is the constant will to give what is owed [Hobbes] |
| 2367 | In time of war the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short [Hobbes] |
| 19764 | Hobbes attributed to savages the passions which arise in a law-bound society [Hobbes, by Rousseau] |
| 20983 | The original position insures that the agreements reached are fair [Sen] |
| 20987 | The veil of ignorance encourages neutral interests, but not a wider view of values [Sen] |
| 20566 | Hobbes says the people voluntarily give up their sovereignty, in a contract with a ruler [Hobbes, by Oksala] |
| 20984 | A social contract limits the pursuit of justice to members of a single society [Sen] |
| 20986 | A person's voice may count because of their interests, or because of their good sense [Sen] |
| 21001 | Famines tend to be caused by authoritarian rule [Sen] |
| 21002 | Effective democracy needs tolerant values [Sen] |
| 20999 | Democracy as 'government by discussion' now has wide support [Sen] |
| 20979 | Democracy needs more than some institutions; diverse sections of the people must be heard [Sen] |
| 20993 | Eradicating smallpox does not impoverish nature [Sen] |
| 20995 | Capabilities are part of freedom, involving real opportunities [Sen] |
| 20998 | Freedom can involve capabilities, independence and non-interference [Sen] |
| 2366 | There is not enough difference between people for one to claim more benefit than another [Hobbes] |
| 20485 | Hobbes says people are roughly equal; Locke says there is no right to impose inequality [Hobbes, by Wolff,J] |
| 20997 | The need for equality among people arises from impartiality and objectivity [Sen] |
| 20996 | All modern theories of justice demand equality of something [Sen] |
| 20988 | Freedom from torture or terrorist attacks is independent of citizenship [Sen] |
| 2369 | If we seek peace and defend ourselves, we must compromise on our rights [Hobbes] |
| 20980 | You don't need a complete theory of justice to see that slavery is wrong [Sen] |
| 20978 | Practical justice concerns not only ideals, but ways to achieve them [Sen] |
| 20985 | Our institutions should promote justice, rather than embodying it [Sen] |
| 20994 | We must focus on removing manifest injustice, not just try to design a perfect society [Sen] |
| 21000 | If justice needs public reasoning, which needs democracy, then justice and democracy are linked [Sen] |
| 20484 | We should obey the laws of nature, provided other people are also obeying them [Hobbes, by Wolff,J] |
| 7573 | The legal positivism of Hobbes said law is just formal or procedural [Hobbes, by Jolley] |
| 2380 | Punishment should only be for reform or deterrence [Hobbes] |
| 2361 | If fear of unknown powers is legal it is religion, if it is illegal it is superstition [Hobbes] |
| 2364 | Causation is only observation of similar events following each other, with nothing visible in between [Hobbes] |
| 9215 | Causation is easier to disrupt than logic, so metaphysics is part of nature, not vice versa [Fine,K] |
| 2365 | Religion is built on ignorance and misinterpretation of what is unknown or frightening [Hobbes] |
| 2378 | Belief in an afterlife is based on poorly founded gossip [Hobbes] |