95 ideas
20262 | Don't use wisdom in order to become clever! [Nietzsche] |
18730 | The history of philosophy only matters if the subject is a choice between rival theories [Wittgenstein] |
20255 | Early 19th century German philosophers enjoyed concepts, rather than scientific explanations [Nietzsche] |
20260 | Carlyle spent his life vainly trying to make reason appear romantic [Nietzsche] |
18704 | Philosophy tries to be rid of certain intellectual puzzles, irrelevant to daily life [Wittgenstein] |
20256 | What we think is totally dictated by the language available to express it [Nietzsche] |
18710 | Philosophers express puzzlement, but don't clearly state the puzzle [Wittgenstein] |
20265 | The desire for a complete system requires making the weak parts look equal to the rest [Nietzsche] |
18732 | We don't need a theory of truth, because we use the word perfectly well [Wittgenstein] |
18714 | We already know what we want to know, and analysis gives us no new facts [Wittgenstein] |
18706 | Words of the same kind can be substituted in a proposition without producing nonsense [Wittgenstein] |
18735 | Talking nonsense is not following the rules [Wittgenstein] |
18719 | Grammar says that saying 'sound is red' is not false, but nonsense [Wittgenstein] |
8820 | Rules of reasoning precede the concept of truth, and they are what characterize it [Pollock] |
18731 | There is no theory of truth, because it isn't a concept [Wittgenstein] |
20380 | Why should truth be omnipotent? It is enough that it is very powerful [Nietzsche] |
20235 | Like animals, we seek truth because we want safety [Nietzsche] |
18707 | All thought has the logical form of reality [Wittgenstein] |
8819 | We need the concept of truth for defeasible reasoning [Pollock] |
18724 | In logic nothing is hidden [Wittgenstein] |
18709 | Laws of logic are like laws of chess - if you change them, it's just a different game [Wittgenstein] |
18736 | Contradiction is between two rules, not between rule and reality [Wittgenstein] |
18723 | We may correctly use 'not' without making the rule explicit [Wittgenstein] |
18718 | Saying 'and' has meaning is just saying it works in a sentence [Wittgenstein] |
18727 | A person's name doesn't mean their body; bodies don't sit down, and their existence can be denied [Wittgenstein] |
18738 | We don't get 'nearer' to something by adding decimals to 1.1412... (root-2) [Wittgenstein] |
18708 | Infinity is not a number, so doesn't say how many; it is the property of a law [Wittgenstein] |
18737 | There are no positive or negative facts; these are just the forms of propositions [Wittgenstein] |
18715 | Using 'green' is a commitment to future usage of 'green' [Wittgenstein] |
8822 | Statements about necessities need not be necessarily true [Pollock] |
18726 | For each necessity in the world there is an arbitrary rule of language [Wittgenstein] |
18712 | Understanding is translation, into action or into other symbols [Wittgenstein] |
20258 | Most people treat knowledge as a private possession [Nietzsche] |
8818 | Defeasible reasoning requires us to be able to think about our thoughts [Pollock] |
18280 | We live in sense-data, but talk about physical objects [Wittgenstein] |
18729 | Part of what we mean by stating the facts is the way we tend to experience them [Wittgenstein] |
18734 | If you remember wrongly, then there must be some other criterion than your remembering [Wittgenstein] |
20250 | We may be unable to remember, but we may never actually forget [Nietzsche] |
8811 | What we want to know is - when is it all right to believe something? [Pollock] |
8817 | Logical entailments are not always reasons for beliefs, because they may be irrelevant [Pollock] |
8814 | Epistemic norms are internalised procedural rules for reasoning [Pollock] |
8823 | Reasons are always for beliefs, but a perceptual state is a reason without itself being a belief [Pollock] |
8813 | If we have to appeal explicitly to epistemic norms, that will produce an infinite regress [Pollock] |
8812 | Norm Externalism says norms must be internal, but their selection is partly external [Pollock] |
8816 | Externalists tend to take a third-person point of view of epistemology [Pollock] |
8815 | Belief externalism is false, because external considerations cannot be internalized for actual use [Pollock] |
20270 | There is no one scientific method; we must try many approaches, and many emotions [Nietzsche] |
18721 | Explanation and understanding are the same [Wittgenstein] |
18720 | Explanation gives understanding by revealing the full multiplicity of the thing [Wittgenstein] |
18716 | A machine strikes us as being a rule of movement [Wittgenstein] |
18713 | If an explanation is good, the symbol is used properly in the future [Wittgenstein] |
20131 | We can cultivate our drives, of anger, pity, curiosity, vanity, like a gardener, with good or bad taste [Nietzsche] |
20242 | Things are the boundaries of humanity, so all things must be known, for self-knowledge [Nietzsche] |
20249 | Our knowledge of the many drives that constitute us is hopelessly incomplete [Nietzsche] |
20231 | People used to think that outcomes were from God, rather than consequences of acts [Nietzsche] |
18717 | Thought is an activity which we perform by the expression of it [Wittgenstein] |
18725 | A proposition draws a line around the facts which agree with it [Wittgenstein] |
18728 | The meaning of a proposition is the mode of its verification [Wittgenstein] |
18705 | Words function only in propositions, like levers in a machine [Wittgenstein] |
18711 | A proposition is any expression which can be significantly negated [Wittgenstein] |
20266 | It is essential that wise people learn to express their wisdom, possibly even as foolishness [Nietzsche] |
20251 | Actions done for a purpose are least understood, because we complacently think it's obvious [Nietzsche] |
20271 | Beauty in art is the imitation of happiness [Nietzsche] |
20230 | The very idea of a critique of morality is regarded as immoral! [Nietzsche] |
20234 | Morality prevents us from developing better customs [Nietzsche] |
20237 | Moral feelings are entirely different from the moral concepts used to judge actions [Nietzsche] |
20238 | Treating morality as feelings is just obeying your ancestors [Nietzsche] |
20243 | Human beings are not majestic, either through divine origins, or through grand aims [Nietzsche] |
20268 | Most dying people have probably lost more important things than what they are about to lose [Nietzsche] |
20252 | Marriage is too serious to be permitted for people in love! [Nietzsche] |
20236 | Marriage upholds the idea that love, though a passion, can endure [Nietzsche] |
20263 | Fear reveals the natures of other people much more clearly than love does [Nietzsche] |
20233 | Punishment has distorted the pure innocence of the contingency of outcomes [Nietzsche] |
20248 | People do nothing for their real ego, but only for a phantom ego created by other people [Nietzsche] |
20246 | If you feel to others as they feel to themselves, you must hate a self-hater [Nietzsche] |
20272 | Honesty is a new young virtue, and we can promote it, or not [Nietzsche] |
20240 | The Jews treated great anger as holy, and were in awe of those who expressed it [Nietzsche] |
20244 | Christianity replaces rational philosophical virtues with great passions focused on God [Nietzsche] |
20274 | The cardinal virtues want us to be honest, brave, magnanimous and polite [Nietzsche] |
20257 | Cool courage and feverish bravery have one name, but are two very different virtues [Nietzsche] |
20259 | Teach youth to respect people who differ with them, not people who agree with them [Nietzsche] |
20267 | Seeing duty as a burden makes it a bit cruel, and it can thus never become a habit [Nietzsche] |
20275 | Most people think they are already complete, but we can cultivate ourselves [Nietzsche] |
20229 | No authority ever willingly accepts criticism [Nietzsche] |
20254 | People govern for the pleasure of it, or just to avoid being governed [Nietzsche] |
20273 | The French Revolution gave trusting Europe the false delusion of instant recovery [Nietzsche] |
20232 | Get rid of the idea of punishment! It is a noxious weed! [Nietzsche] |
20253 | Modern wars arise from the study of history [Nietzsche] |
20261 | History does not concern what really happened, but supposed events, which have all the influence [Nietzsche] |
18733 | Laws of nature are an aspect of the phenomena, and are just our mode of description [Wittgenstein] |
20241 | Enquirers think finding our origin is salvation, but it turns out to be dull [Nietzsche] |
20245 | Christianity hoped for a short cut to perfection, that skipped the hard labour of morality [Nietzsche] |
20247 | Christianity was successful because of its heathen rituals [Nietzsche] |
20269 | 'I believe because it is absurd' - but how about 'I believe because I am absurd' [Nietzsche] |
20264 | The easy and graceful aspects of a person are called 'soul', and inner awkwardness is called 'soulless' [Nietzsche] |