58 ideas
4266 | Having beliefs involves recognition, expectation and surprise [Scruton] |
4265 | If an animal has beliefs, that implies not only that it can make mistakes, but that it can learn from them [Scruton] |
4264 | Perception (which involves an assessment) is a higher state than sensation [Scruton] |
4271 | There is consciousness whenever behaviour must be explained in terms of mental activity [Scruton] |
21833 | Research suggest that we overrate conscious experience [Flanagan] |
4272 | Our concept of a person is derived from Roman law [Scruton] |
8143 | Self is the rider, intellect the charioteer, mind the reins, and body the chariot [Anon (Upan)] |
8147 | We have an apparent and a true self; only the second one exists, and we must seek to know it [Anon (Upan)] |
4267 | Conditioning may change behaviour without changing the mind [Scruton] |
21834 | Sensations may be identical to brain events, but complex mental events don't seem to be [Flanagan] |
4269 | An emotion is a motive which is also a feeling [Scruton] |
4270 | Do we use reason to distinguish people from animals, or use that difference to define reason? [Scruton] |
8155 | Without speech we cannot know right/wrong, true/false, good/bad, or pleasant/unpleasant [Anon (Upan)] |
4284 | All moral life depends ultimately on piety, which is our recognition of our own dependence [Scruton] |
21837 | Morality is normative because it identifies best practices among the normal practices [Flanagan] |
21830 | For Darwinians, altruism is either contracts or genetics [Flanagan] |
21835 | We need Eudaimonics - the empirical study of how we should flourish [Flanagan] |
8142 | The wise prefer good to pleasure; the foolish are drawn to pleasure by desire [Anon (Upan)] |
4273 | Kant's Moral Law is the rules rational beings would accept when trying to live by agreement [Scruton] |
4274 | The modern virtues are courage, prudence, wisdom, temperance, justice, charity and loyalty [Scruton] |
4286 | Only just people will drop their own self-interests when faced with an impartial verdict [Scruton] |
4283 | Sympathy can undermine the moral order just as much as crime does [Scruton] |
4290 | That which can only be done by a callous person, ought not to be done [Scruton] |
4285 | As soon as we drop self-interest and judge impartially, we find ourselves agreeing about conflicts [Scruton] |
4287 | Utilitarianism merely guides us (by means of sympathy) when the moral law is silent [Scruton] |
4282 | Morality is not a sort of calculation, it is what sets the limits to when calculation is appropriate [Scruton] |
4281 | Utilitarianism says we can't blame Stalin yet, but such a theory is a sick joke [Scruton] |
4280 | Utilitarianism is wrong precisely because it can't distinguish animals from people [Scruton] |
21831 | Alienation is not finding what one wants, or being unable to achieve it [Flanagan] |
8151 | Let your teacher be a god to you [Anon (Upan)] |
4296 | Brutal animal sports are banned because they harm the personality of the watcher [Scruton] |
4288 | Many breeds of animals have needs which our own ancestors planted in them [Scruton] |
4293 | Introducing a natural means of controlling animal population may not be very compassionate [Scruton] |
4295 | We favour our own animals over foreign ones because we see them as fellow citizens [Scruton] |
4268 | Animals command our sympathy and moral concern initially because of their intentionality [Scruton] |
4291 | Letting your dog kill wild rats, and keeping rats for your dog to kill, are very different [Scruton] |
4263 | Many of the stranger forms of life (e.g. worms) interest us only as a species, not as individuals [Scruton] |
4276 | An animal has individuality if it is nameable, and advanced animals can respond to their name [Scruton] |
4277 | I may avoid stepping on a spider or flower, but fellow-feeling makes me protect a rabbit [Scruton] |
4278 | Lucky animals are eaten by large predators, the less lucky starve, and worst is death by small predators [Scruton] |
4279 | We can easily remove the risk of suffering from an animal's life, but we shouldn't do it [Scruton] |
4289 | Sheep and cattle live comfortable lives, and die an enviably easy death [Scruton] |
4292 | Concern for one animal may harm the species, if the individual is part of a bigger problem [Scruton] |
4294 | Animals are outside the community of rights, but we still have duties towards them [Scruton] |
8153 | By knowing one piece of clay or gold, you know all of clay or gold [Anon (Upan)] |
8154 | Originally there must have been just Existence, which could not come from non-existence [Anon (Upan)] |
8148 | Brahma, supreme god and protector of the universe, arose from the ocean of existence [Anon (Upan)] |
8144 | Brahman is the Uncaused Cause [Anon (Upan)] |
8152 | Earth, food, fire, sun are all forms of Brahman [Anon (Upan)] |
8156 | The gods are not worshipped for their own sake, but for the sake of the Self [Anon (Upan)] |
8157 | A man with desires is continually reborn, until his desires are stilled [Anon (Upan)] |
8159 | Damayata - be self-controlled! Datta - be charitable! Dayadhwam - be compassionate! [Anon (Upan)] |
8145 | Those ignorant of Atman return as animals or plants, according to their merits [Anon (Upan)] |
21832 | Buddhists reject God and the self, and accept suffering as key, and liberation through wisdom [Flanagan] |
8149 | Charity and ritual observance distract from the highest good of religion [Anon (Upan)] |
8158 | Do not seek to know Brahman by arguments, for arguments are idle and vain [Anon (Upan)] |
8146 | The immortal in us is the part that never sleeps, and shapes our dreams [Anon (Upan)] |
8150 | The immortal Self and the sad individual self are like two golden birds perched on one tree [Anon (Upan)] |