55 ideas
| 3600 | Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress [Descartes] |
| 3879 | Philosophy aims to provide a theory of everything [Scruton] |
| 3601 | Most things in human life seem vain and useless [Descartes] |
| 3602 | Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher [Descartes] |
| 3891 | If p entails q, then p is sufficient for q, and q is necessary for p [Scruton] |
| 3603 | Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic [Descartes, by PG] |
| 3894 | We may define 'good' correctly, but then ask whether the application of the definition is good [Scruton] |
| 3612 | Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists [Descartes] |
| 3883 | A true proposition is consistent with every other true proposition [Scruton] |
| 3610 | Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure [Descartes] |
| 3884 | The pragmatist does not really have a theory of truth [Scruton] |
| 3907 | Could you be intellectually acquainted with numbers, but unable to count objects? [Scruton] |
| 3908 | If maths contains unprovable truths, then maths cannot be reduced to a set of proofs [Scruton] |
| 3906 | If possible worlds are needed to define properties, maybe we should abandon properties [Scruton] |
| 3888 | Hume assumes that necessity can only be de dicto, not de re [Scruton] |
| 3903 | The conceivable can't be a test of the possible, if there are things which are possible but inconceivable [Scruton] |
| 3897 | Epistemology is about the justification of belief, not the definition of knowledge [Scruton] |
| 3605 | We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it [Descartes] |
| 1583 | In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology [Roochnik on Descartes] |
| 3881 | In the Cogito argument consciousness develops into self-consciousness [Scruton] |
| 3607 | In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain [Descartes] |
| 3887 | Maybe our knowledge of truth and causation is synthetic a priori [Scruton] |
| 3617 | I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind [Descartes] |
| 3901 | Touch only seems to reveal primary qualities [Scruton] |
| 3885 | We only conceive of primary qualities as attached to secondary qualities [Scruton] |
| 3910 | If primary and secondary qualities are distinct, what has the secondary qualities? [Scruton] |
| 3899 | The representational theory says perceptual states are intentional states [Scruton] |
| 3611 | Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge [Descartes] |
| 3606 | I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand [Descartes] |
| 3898 | My belief that it will rain tomorrow can't be caused by its raining tomorrow [Scruton] |
| 3880 | Logical positivism avoids scepticism, by closing the gap between evidence and conclusion [Scruton] |
| 3604 | When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings [Descartes] |
| 3878 | Why should you believe someone who says there are no truths? [Scruton] |
| 3618 | Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations [Descartes] |
| 3615 | Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all [Descartes] |
| 3609 | I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support [Descartes] |
| 3892 | Every event having a cause, and every event being determined by its cause, are not the same [Scruton] |
| 3608 | I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence [Descartes] |
| 3613 | Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs [Descartes] |
| 3616 | The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations [Descartes] |
| 3911 | The very concept of a substance denies the possibility of mutual interaction and dependence [Scruton] |
| 3614 | A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation [Descartes] |
| 3882 | Wittgenstein makes it impossible to build foundations from something that is totally private [Scruton] |
| 22693 | The works we value most are in sympathy with our own moral views [John,E] |
| 22694 | We should understand what is morally important in a story, without having to endorse it [John,E] |
| 22695 | We value morality in art because that is what we care about - but it is a contingent fact [John,E] |
| 22692 | A work can be morally and artistically excellent, despite rejecting moral truth [John,E] |
| 3896 | Any social theory of morality has the problem of the 'free rider', who only pretends to join in [Scruton] |
| 1581 | Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them [Descartes] |
| 3886 | Membership is the greatest source of obligation [Scruton] |
| 3895 | The categorical imperative is not just individual, but can be used for negotiations between strangers [Scruton] |
| 3890 | 'Cause' used to just mean any valid explanation [Scruton] |
| 16686 | God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us [Descartes] |
| 3904 | Measuring space requires no movement while I do it [Scruton] |
| 3905 | 'Existence' is not a predicate of 'man', but of the concept of man, saying it has at least one instance [Scruton] |