65 ideas
12926 | Wisdom is the science of happiness [Leibniz] |
12903 | Wise people have fewer acts of will, because such acts are linked together [Leibniz] |
12914 | Metaphysics is geometrical, resting on non-contradiction and sufficient reason [Leibniz] |
17651 | Without words or other symbols, we have no world [Goodman] |
12915 | Definitions can only be real if the item is possible [Leibniz] |
19333 | A truth is just a proposition in which the predicate is contained within the subject [Leibniz] |
12910 | The predicate is in the subject of a true proposition [Leibniz] |
17652 | Truth is irrelevant if no statements are involved [Goodman] |
12920 | There is no multiplicity without true units [Leibniz] |
12319 | What is not truly one being is not truly a being either [Leibniz] |
17656 | Being primitive or prior always depends on a constructional system [Goodman] |
12922 | A thing 'expresses' another if they have a constant and fixed relationship [Leibniz] |
17661 | We don't recognise patterns - we invent them [Goodman] |
17659 | Reality is largely a matter of habit [Goodman] |
17657 | We build our world, and ignore anything that won't fit [Goodman] |
17654 | A world can be full of variety or not, depending on how we sort it [Goodman] |
13079 | A substance contains the laws of its operations, and its actions come from its own depth [Leibniz] |
12745 | Philosophy needs the precision of the unity given by substances [Leibniz] |
12921 | Accidental unity has degrees, from a mob to a society to a machine or organism [Leibniz] |
12746 | We find unity in reason, and unity in perception, but these are not true unity [Leibniz] |
12916 | A body is a unified aggregate, unless it has an indivisible substance [Leibniz] |
12919 | Unity needs an indestructible substance, to contain everything which will happen to it [Leibniz] |
12923 | Every bodily substance must have a soul, or something analogous to a soul [Leibniz] |
12704 | Aggregates don’t reduce to points, or atoms, or illusion, so must reduce to substance [Leibniz] |
13077 | Basic predicates give the complete concept, which then predicts all of the actions [Leibniz] |
12908 | Essences exist in the divine understanding [Leibniz] |
12706 | Bodies need a soul (or something like it) to avoid being mere phenomena [Leibniz] |
12906 | Truths about species are eternal or necessary, but individual truths concern what exists [Leibniz] |
17653 | Things can only be judged the 'same' by citing some respect of sameness [Goodman] |
12904 | If varieties of myself can be conceived of as distinct from me, then they are not me [Leibniz] |
11981 | If someone's life went differently, then that would be another individual [Leibniz] |
12905 | I cannot think my non-existence, nor exist without being myself [Leibniz] |
19334 | I can't just know myself to be a substance; I must distinguish myself from others, which is hard [Leibniz] |
5033 | Nothing should be taken as certain without foundations [Leibniz] |
17660 | Discovery is often just finding a fit, like a jigsaw puzzle [Goodman] |
17658 | Users of digital thermometers recognise no temperatures in the gaps [Goodman] |
17650 | We lack frames of reference to transform physics, biology and psychology into one another [Goodman] |
17655 | Grue and green won't be in the same world, as that would block induction entirely [Goodman] |
12913 | Nature is explained by mathematics and mechanism, but the laws rest on metaphysics [Leibniz] |
13089 | To fully conceive the subject is to explain the resulting predicates and events [Leibniz] |
5034 | Mind is a thinking substance which can know God and eternal truths [Leibniz] |
5032 | It seems probable that animals have souls, but not consciousness [Leibniz] |
5031 | Everything which happens is not necessary, but is certain after God chooses this universe [Leibniz] |
12911 | Concepts are what unite a proposition [Leibniz] |
12925 | Beauty increases with familiarity [Leibniz] |
12927 | Happiness is advancement towards perfection [Leibniz] |
20086 | Nowadays sovereignty (once the basis of a state) has become relative [Reybrouck] |
20090 | Today it seems almost impossible to learn the will of the people [Reybrouck] |
20087 | There are no united monolothic 'peoples', and no 'national gut feelings' [Reybrouck] |
20089 | Technocrats may be efficient, but they lose legitimacy as soon as they do unpopular things [Reybrouck] |
20088 | Technocrats are expert managers, who replace politicians, and can be long-term and unpopular [Reybrouck] |
20085 | Democracy is the best compromise between legitimacy and efficiency [Reybrouck] |
20095 | A referendum result arises largely from ignorance [Reybrouck] |
20094 | You don't really govern people if you don't involve them [Reybrouck] |
20093 | In the 18th century democratic lots lost out to elections, that gave us a non-hereditary aristocracy [Reybrouck] |
20091 | Representative elections were developed in order to avoid democracy [Reybrouck] |
17649 | If the world is one it has many aspects, and if there are many worlds they will collect into one [Goodman] |
15955 | I think the corpuscular theory, rather than forms or qualities, best explains particular phenomena [Leibniz] |
12907 | Each possible world contains its own laws, reflected in the possible individuals of that world [Leibniz] |
12924 | Motion alone is relative, but force is real, and establishes its subject [Leibniz] |
12909 | Everything, even miracles, belongs to order [Leibniz] |
5030 | Miracles are extraordinary operations by God, but are nevertheless part of his design [Leibniz] |
12912 | Immortality without memory is useless [Leibniz] |
12917 | The soul is indestructible and always self-aware [Leibniz] |
12918 | Animals have souls, but lack consciousness [Leibniz] |