168 ideas
23890 | For Plato true wisdom is supernatural [Plato, by Weil] |
20866 | Wise men participate in politics, especially if it shows moral progress [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
20854 | Wise men are never astonished at things which other people take to be wonders [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20815 | No wise man has yet been discovered [Stoic school, by Cicero] |
19608 | Wisdom is just the last gasp of a dying civilization [Cioran] |
19624 | Intelligence only fully flourishes at the end of a historical period [Cioran] |
19599 | Ideas are neutral, but people fill them with passion and weakness [Cioran] |
19631 | The history of ideas (and deeds) occurs in a meaningless environment [Cioran] |
19645 | Some thinkers would have been just as dynamic, no matter when they had lived [Cioran] |
19629 | A nation gives expression to its sum of values, and is then exhausted [Cioran] |
3060 | Plato never mentions Democritus, and wished to burn his books [Plato, by Diog. Laertius] |
20806 | Stoic physics concerns cosmos, elements and causes (with six detailed divisions) [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20839 | Ethics studies impulse, good, passion, virtue, goals, value, action, appropriateness, encouragement [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20867 | True philosophising is not memorising ideas, but living by them [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
19618 | I abandoned philosophy because it didn't acknowledge melancholy and human weakness [Cioran] |
19621 | Originality in philosophy is just the invention of terms [Cioran] |
19607 | The mind is superficial, only concerned with the arrangement of events, not their significance [Cioran] |
19638 | Metaphysics is a universalisation of physical anguish [Cioran] |
19620 | Great systems of philosophy are just brilliant tautologies [Cioran] |
21675 | Some facts are indispensable for an effect, and others actually necessitate the effect [Stoic school, by Cicero] |
21810 | The Stoics distinguished spoken logos from logos within the mind [Stoic school, by Plotinus] |
20775 | Stoics study canons, criteria and definitions, in order to find the truth [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
21393 | Stoics believed that rational capacity in man (logos) is embodied in the universe [Stoic school, by Long] |
23891 | Two contradictories force us to find a relation which will correlate them [Plato, by Weil] |
19630 | No great idea ever emerged from a dialogue [Cioran] |
20776 | Dialectics is mastery of question and answer form [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20849 | Falsehoods corrupt a mind, producing passions and instability [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20823 | The truth bearers are said to be the signified, or the signifier, or the meaning of the signifier [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus] |
19636 | Truth is just an error insufficiently experienced [Cioran] |
19642 | Eventually every 'truth' is guaranteed by the police [Cioran] |
20778 | Stoics like syllogisms, for showing what is demonstrative, which corrects opinions [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
21400 | Stoics avoided universals by paraphrasing 'Man is...' as 'If something is a man, then it is...' [Stoic school, by Long] |
20788 | The contradictory of a contradictory is an affirmation [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
19632 | An axiom has no more authority than a frenzy [Cioran] |
21594 | Stoics applied bivalence to sorites situations, so everyone is either vicious or wholly virtuous [Stoic school, by Williamson] |
20824 | Stoics have four primary categories: substrates, qualities, dispositions, relative dispositions [Stoic school, by Simplicius] |
14502 | Plato's idea of 'structure' tends to be mathematically expressed [Plato, by Koslicki] |
20906 | Platonists argue for the indivisible triangle-in-itself [Plato, by Aristotle] |
17948 | Plato's Forms meant that the sophists only taught the appearance of wisdom and virtue [Plato, by Nehamas] |
3039 | When Diogenes said he could only see objects but not their forms, Plato said it was because he had eyes but no intellect [Plato, by Diog. Laertius] |
556 | If there is one Form for both the Form and its participants, they must have something in common [Aristotle on Plato] |
563 | If gods are like men, they are just eternal men; similarly, Forms must differ from particulars [Aristotle on Plato] |
557 | A Form is a cause of things only in the way that white mixed with white is a cause [Aristotle on Plato] |
565 | The Forms cannot be changeless if they are in changing things [Aristotle on Plato] |
20817 | Platonic Forms are just our thoughts [Stoic school, by Ps-Plutarch] |
9607 | The greatest discovery in human thought is Plato's discovery of abstract objects [Brown,JR on Plato] |
13263 | We can grasp whole things in science, because they have a mathematics and a teleology [Plato, by Koslicki] |
13261 | Plato sees an object's structure as expressible in mathematics [Plato, by Koslicki] |
13265 | Plato was less concerned than Aristotle with the source of unity in a complex object [Plato, by Koslicki] |
6037 | Stoics say matter has qualities, and substance underlies it, with no form or qualities [Stoic school, by Chalcidius] |
593 | Plato's holds that there are three substances: Forms, mathematical entities, and perceptible bodies [Plato, by Aristotle] |
13260 | Plato says wholes are either containers, or they're atomic, or they don't exist [Plato, by Koslicki] |
20826 | How is separateness possible, if separated things are always said to be united? [Alexander on Stoic school] |
20825 | How is divisibility possible, if stoics say things remain united when they are divided? [Alexander on Stoic school] |
20872 | Stoics say wholes are more than parts, but entirely consist of parts [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus] |
11237 | Only universals have essence [Plato, by Politis] |
11238 | Plato and Aristotle take essence to make a thing what it is [Plato, by Politis] |
20790 | A proposition is possible if it is true when nothing stops it being true [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20789 | Conditionals are false if the falsehood of the conclusion does not conflict with the antecedent [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20783 | Knowledge is a secure grasp of presentations which cannot be reversed by argument [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20868 | Two sorts of opinion: either poorly grounded belief, or weak belief [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
20784 | There are non-sensible presentations, which come to us through the intellect [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20803 | Stoics say we are born like a blank sheet of paper; the first concepts on it are sensations [Stoic school, by Ps-Plutarch] |
6025 | At birth the soul is a blank sheet ready to be written on [Stoic school, by Aetius] |
20781 | Non-graspable presentations are from what doesn't exist, or are not clear and distinct [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20792 | Stoic perception is a presentation to which one voluntarily assents [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
20805 | All our concepts come from experience, directly, or by expansion, reduction or compounding [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus] |
20782 | Dialectic is a virtue which contains other virtues [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
1772 | For Stoics knowledge is an assertion which never deviates from the truth [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20779 | Demonstration derives what is less clear from what is clear [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
17085 | A good explanation totally rules out the opposite explanation (so Forms are required) [Plato, by Ruben] |
23251 | The Stoics think that soul in the narrow sense is nothing but reason [Stoic school, by Frede,M] |
20809 | Eight parts of the soul: five senses, seeds, speech and reason [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
23321 | Division of the soul divides a person, reducing responsibility for the nonrational part [Stoic school, by Frede,M] |
23267 | Stoics say the soul is a mixture of air and fire [Stoic school, by Galen] |
19626 | Our instincts had to be blunted and diminished, to make way for consciousness! [Cioran] |
20785 | Our conceptions arise from experience, similarity, analogy, transposition, composition and opposition [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
7502 | For Stoics the true self is defined by what I can be master of [Stoic school, by Foucault] |
23327 | Stoics expanded the idea of compulsion, and contracted what counts as one's own actions [Stoic school, by Frede,M] |
7672 | The free will problem was invented by the Stoics [Stoic school, by Berlin] |
23315 | The nearest to ancient determinism is Stoic fate, but that is controlled by a sympathetic God [Stoic school, by Frede,M] |
4014 | Stoics classify passions according to the opinion of good and bad which they imply [Stoic school, by Taylor,C] |
23988 | There are four basic emotions: pleasure or delight, distress, appetite, and fear [Stoic school, by Cicero] |
1651 | Plato wanted to somehow control and purify the passions [Vlastos on Plato] |
6594 | Stoics said that correct judgement needs an invincible criterion of truth [Stoic school, by Fogelin] |
20804 | Concepts are intellectual phantasms [Stoic school, by Ps-Plutarch] |
19633 | We use concepts to master our fears; saying 'death' releases us from confronting it [Cioran] |
20786 | Predicates are incomplete 'lekta' [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
23322 | Humans have rational impressions, which are conceptual, and are true or false [Stoic school, by Frede,M] |
3324 | Plato's whole philosophy may be based on being duped by reification - a figure of speech [Benardete,JA on Plato] |
20777 | Rhetoric has three types, four modes, and four sections [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
23323 | Earlier Stoics speak of assent, but not of choice, let alone of a will [Stoic school, by Frede,M] |
19615 | I want to suppress in myself the normal reasons people have for action [Cioran] |
23305 | Stoics said responsibility depends on rationality [Stoic school, by Sorabji] |
1907 | Stoics use 'kalon' (beautiful) as a synonym for 'agathon' (good) [Bury on Stoic school] |
19628 | At a civilisation's peak values are all that matters, and people unconsciously live by them [Cioran] |
22757 | Stoics say that folly alone is evil [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus] |
7503 | Plato never refers to examining the conscience [Plato, by Foucault] |
2173 | As religion and convention collapsed, Plato sought morals not just in knowledge, but in the soul [Williams,B on Plato] |
20846 | Prime values apply to the life in agreement; useful values apply to the natural life [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
19646 | Values don't accumulate; they are ruthlessly replaced [Cioran] |
20847 | The appraiser's value is what is set by someone experienced in the facts [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20870 | The goal is to live consistently with the constitution of a human being [Stoic school, by Clement] |
22238 | Stoics said health is an 'indifferent', but they still considered it preferable [Stoic school, by Pormann] |
20861 | The health of the soul is a good blend of beliefs [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
3553 | Stoic morality says that one's own happiness will lead to impartiality [Stoic school, by Annas] |
19614 | Lovers are hateful, apart from their hovering awareness of death [Cioran] |
20851 | Virtuous men do not feel sexual desire, which merely focuses on physical beauty [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
7499 | Stoicism was an elitist option to lead a beautiful life [Stoic school, by Foucault] |
20843 | Final goods: confidence, prudence, freedom, enjoyment and no pain, good spirits, virtue [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
9274 | Plato's legacy to European thought was the Good, the Beautiful and the True [Plato, by Gray] |
94 | Pleasure is better with the addition of intelligence, so pleasure is not the good [Plato, by Aristotle] |
22753 | Happiness for the Stoics was an equable flow of life [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus] |
17947 | Plato decided that the virtuous and happy life was the philosophical life [Plato, by Nehamas] |
20865 | Happiness is the end and goal, achieved by living virtuously, in agreement, and according to nature [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
20840 | Stoics say pleasure is at most a byproduct of finding what is suitable for us [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20852 | Rapture is a breakdown of virtue [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
6015 | Plato, unusually, said that theoretical and practical wisdom are inseparable [Plato, by Kraut] |
6895 | If humans are citizens of the world (not just a state) then virtue is all good human habits [Stoic school, by Mautner] |
20848 | An appropriate action is one that can be defended, perhaps by its consistency. [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
20844 | Honour is just, courageous, orderly or knowledgeable. It is praiseworthy, or functions well [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
4012 | The Stoics rejected entirely the high value that had been placed on contemplation [Stoic school, by Taylor,C] |
5073 | Stoics do not despise external goods, but subject them to reason, and not to desire [Taylor,R on Stoic school] |
20862 | Crafts like music and letters are virtuous conditions, and they accord with virtue [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
5072 | For Stoics, obligations are determined by social role [Taylor,R on Stoic school] |
19634 | Man is never himself; he always aims at less than life, or more than life [Cioran] |
19619 | To live authentically, we must see that philosophy is totally useless [Cioran] |
19622 | The pointlessness of our motives and irrelevance of our gestures reveals our vacuity [Cioran] |
19617 | Evidence suggests that humans do not have a purpose [Cioran] |
19612 | The universe is dirty and fragile, as if a scandal in nothingness had produced its matter [Cioran] |
19604 | Unlike other creatures, mankind seems lost in nature [Cioran] |
19606 | We can only live because our imagination and memory are poor [Cioran] |
19601 | Life is now more dreaded than death [Cioran] |
2912 | Plato is boring [Nietzsche on Plato] |
19640 | No one is brave enough to say they don't want to do anything; we despise such a view [Cioran] |
19602 | You are stuck in the past if you don't know boredom [Cioran] |
19644 | History is the bloody rejection of boredom [Cioran] |
19641 | If you lack beliefs, boredom is your martyrdom [Cioran] |
21396 | Man is distinguished by knowing conditional truths, because impressions are connected [Stoic school, by Long] |
19613 | It is pointless to refuse or accept the social order; we must endure it like the weather [Cioran] |
1781 | Stoics favour a mixture of democracy, monarchy and aristocracy [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
19627 | Opportunists can save a nation, and heroes can ruin it [Cioran] |
20859 | The best government blends democracy, monarchy and aristocracy [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
21384 | The Stoics saw the whole world as a city [Stoic school, by Long] |
3561 | Stoics originated the concept of natural law, as agreed correct reasoning [Stoic school, by Annas] |
19625 | The ideal is to impose a religion by force, and then live in doubt about its beliefs [Cioran] |
19637 | History is wonderfully devoid of meaning [Cioran] |
19605 | Despite endless suggestions, no one has found a goal for history [Cioran] |
19610 | Religions see suicide as insubordination [Cioran] |
19611 | No one has ever found a good argument against suicide [Cioran] |
19609 | If you have not contemplated suicide, you are a miserable worm [Cioran] |
20858 | Suicide is reasonable, for one's country or friends, or because of very bad health [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
3046 | Stoics say a wise man will commit suicide if he has a good enough reason [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
19639 | We all need sexual secrets! [Cioran] |
3556 | Stoic 'nature' is deterministic, physical and teleological [Stoic school, by Annas] |
22743 | Unlike Epicurus, Stoics distinguish the Whole from the All, with the latter including the void [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus] |
13296 | The cosmos has two elements - passive matter, and active cause (or reason) which shapes it [Stoic school, by Seneca] |
1526 | Almost everyone except Plato thinks that time could not have been generated [Plato, by Aristotle] |
20827 | The cosmos is regularly consumed and reorganised by the primary fire [Stoic school, by Aristocles] |
7815 | Early Stoics called the logos 'god', meaning not a being, but the principle of the universe [Stoic school] |
6038 | Stoics say god is matter, or an inseparable quality of it, or is the power within it [Stoic school, by Chalcidius] |
19603 | Why is God so boring, and why does God resemble humanity so little? [Cioran] |
19616 | As the perfect wisdom of detachment, philosophy offers no rivals to Taoism [Cioran] |
19600 | When man abandons religion, he then follows new fake gods and mythologies [Cioran] |
19643 | A religion needs to motivate killings, and cannot tolerate rivals [Cioran] |
20829 | Virtuous souls endure till the end, foolish souls for a short time, animal souls not at all [Stoic school, by Eusebius] |
6039 | Stoics say virtuous souls last till everything ends in fire, but foolish ones fade away [Stoic school, by ] |
19623 | Circles of hell are ridiculous; all that matters is to be there [Cioran] |