264 ideas
78 | Wisdom is scientific and intuitive knowledge of what is by nature most precious [Aristotle] |
5248 | Wisdom does not study happiness, because it is not concerned with processes [Aristotle] |
2682 | Aristotle thinks human life is not important enough to spend a whole life on it [Nagel on Aristotle] |
103 | Wise people can contemplate alone, though co-operation helps [Aristotle] |
112 | Most people are readier to submit to compulsion than to argument [Aristotle] |
22 | Trained minds never expect more precision than is possible [Aristotle] |
76 | The object of scientific knowledge is what is necessary [Aristotle] |
4333 | Contraries are by definition as far distant as possible from one another [Aristotle] |
21356 | Piety requires us to honour truth above our friends [Aristotle] |
35 | A statement is true if all the data are in harmony with it [Aristotle] |
5130 | It is meaningless to speak of 'man-himself', because it has the same definition as plain 'man' [Aristotle] |
27 | Eternal white is no whiter than temporary white, and it is the same with goodness [Aristotle] |
28 | How will a vision of pure goodness make someone a better doctor? [Aristotle] |
4391 | Opinion is praised for being in accordance with truth [Aristotle] |
2573 | To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence [Aristotle] |
5220 | Particular facts (such as 'is it cooked?') are matters of sense-perception, not deliberation [Aristotle] |
95 | If everyone believes it, it is true [Aristotle] |
22141 | It is enough if we refute the objections and leave common opinions undisturbed [Aristotle] |
79 | Intuition grasps the definitions that can't be proved [Aristotle] |
20043 | Evolutionary explanations look to the past or the group, not to the individual [Stout,R] |
20058 | Not all explanation is causal. We don't explain a painting's beauty, or the irrationality of root-2, that way [Stout,R] |
5146 | Everything that receives nourishment has a vegetative soul, with it own distinctive excellence [Aristotle] |
5147 | In a controlled person the receptive part of the soul is obedient, and it is in harmony in the virtuous [Aristotle] |
5148 | The irrational psuché is persuadable by reason - shown by our criticism and encouragement of people [Aristotle] |
5232 | If beings are dominated by appetite, this can increase so much that it drives out reason [Aristotle] |
5145 | The rational and irrational parts of the soul are either truly separate, or merely described that way [Aristotle] |
5266 | It would seem that the thinking part is the individual self [Aristotle] |
8007 | Aristotle never discusses free will [Aristotle, by MacIntyre] |
12961 | For an action to be 'free', it must be deliberate as well as unconstrained [Aristotle, by Leibniz] |
4118 | A human being fathers his own actions as he fathers his children [Aristotle] |
20192 | Aristotle assesses whether people are responsible, and if they are it was voluntary [Aristotle, by Zagzebski] |
4405 | The attainment of truth is the task of the intellectual part of the soul [Aristotle] |
5160 | There is a mean of feelings, as in our responses to the good or bad fortune of others [Aristotle] |
4326 | Aristotle gives a superior account of rationality, because he allows emotions to participate [Hursthouse on Aristotle] |
72 | Assume our reason is in two parts, one for permanent first principles, and one for variable things [Aristotle] |
20035 | Philosophy of action studies the nature of agency, and of deliberate actions [Stout,R] |
20084 | Agency is causal processes that are sensitive to justification [Stout,R] |
20061 | Mental states and actions need to be separate, if one is to cause the other [Stout,R] |
20079 | Are actions bodily movements, or a sequence of intention-movement-result? [Stout,R] |
20080 | If one action leads to another, does it cause it, or is it part of it? [Stout,R] |
20059 | I do actions, but not events, so actions are not events [Stout,R] |
20081 | Bicycle riding is not just bodily movement - you also have to be on the bicycle [Stout,R] |
4380 | Not all actions aim at some good; akratic actions, for example, do not [Burnyeat on Aristotle] |
20044 | The rationalistic approach says actions are intentional when subject to justification [Stout,R] |
20039 | The causal theory says that actions are intentional when intention (or belief-desire) causes the act [Stout,R] |
20047 | Deciding what to do usually involves consulting the world, not our own minds [Stout,R] |
20065 | Should we study intentions in their own right, or only as part of intentional action? [Stout,R] |
20067 | You can have incompatible desires, but your intentions really ought to be consistent [Stout,R] |
20078 | The normativity of intentions would be obvious if they were internal promises [Stout,R] |
20036 | Intentional agency is seen in internal precursors of action, and in external reasons for the act [Stout,R] |
20066 | Speech needs sustained intentions, but not prior intentions [Stout,R] |
20070 | An individual cannot express the intention that a group do something like moving a piano [Stout,R] |
20071 | An intention is a goal to which behaviour is adapted, for an individual or for a group [Stout,R] |
20073 | Bratman has to treat shared intentions as interrelated individual intentions [Stout,R] |
20069 | A request to pass the salt shares an intention that the request be passed on [Stout,R] |
23320 | Choice is not explained by the will, but by the operation of reason when it judges what is good [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
20038 | If the action of walking is just an act of will, then movement of the legs seems irrelevant [Stout,R] |
5211 | An action is voluntary if the limb movements originate in the agent [Aristotle] |
5221 | Deliberation ends when the starting-point of an action is traced back to the dominant part of the self [Aristotle] |
20052 | If you don't mention an agent, you aren't talking about action [Stout,R] |
20050 | Most philosophers see causation as by an event or state in the agent, rather than the whole agent [Stout,R] |
4383 | Aristotle seems not to explain why the better syllogism is overcome in akratic actions [Burnyeat on Aristotle] |
68 | The akrates acts from desire not choice, and the enkrates acts from choice not desire [Aristotle] |
4318 | Virtue is right reason and feeling and action. Akrasia and enkrateia are lower levels of action. [Aristotle, by Cottingham] |
4372 | Akrasia merely neglects or misunderstands knowledge, rather than opposing it [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
5254 | Some people explain akrasia by saying only opinion is present, not knowledge [Aristotle] |
5255 | A person may act against one part of his knowledge, if he knows both universal and particular [Aristotle] |
23317 | Aristotle sees akrasia as acting against what is chosen, not against reason [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
23318 | Akrasia is explained by past mental failures, not by a specific choice [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
5257 | Licentious people feel no regret, but weak-willed people are capable of repentance [Aristotle] |
20077 | If you can judge one act as best, then do another, this supports an inward-looking view of agency [Stout,R] |
20046 | For an ascetic a powerful desire for something is a reason not to implement it [Stout,R] |
20049 | Maybe your emotions arise from you motivations, rather than being their cause [Stout,R] |
5249 | One cannot be prudent without being good [Aristotle] |
4371 | Seeing particulars as parts of larger wholes is to perceive their value [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
69 | We deliberate about means, not ends [Aristotle] |
73 | Practical intellect serves to arrive at the truth which corresponds to right appetite [Aristotle] |
5247 | Prudence is mainly concerned with particulars, which is the sphere of human conduct [Aristotle] |
80 | Virtue ensures that we have correct aims, and prudence that we have correct means of achieving them [Aristotle] |
82 | The one virtue of prudence carries with it the possession of all the other virtues [Aristotle] |
20212 | Practical reason is truth-attaining, and focused on actions good for human beings [Aristotle] |
67 | Bad people are just ignorant of what they ought to do [Aristotle] |
5218 | Some people are good at forming opinions, but bad at making moral choices [Aristotle] |
81 | For Socrates virtues are principles, involving knowledge, but we say they only imply the principle of practical reason [Aristotle] |
5267 | Our reasoned acts are held to be voluntary and our own doing [Aristotle] |
20060 | Beliefs, desires and intentions are not events, so can't figure in causal relations [Stout,R] |
20055 | A standard view says that the explanation of an action is showing its rational justification [Stout,R] |
20056 | In order to be causal, an agent's reasons must be internalised as psychological states [Stout,R] |
5213 | If you repent of an act done through ignorance, you acted involuntarily, not non-voluntarily [Aristotle] |
4384 | For Aristotle responsibility seems negative, in the absence of force or ignorance [Irwin on Aristotle] |
20053 | An action is only yours if you produce it, rather than some state or event within you [Stout,R] |
20048 | There may be a justification relative to a person's view, and yet no absolute justification [Stout,R] |
5212 | A man should sooner die than do some dreadful things, no matter how cruel the death [Aristotle] |
20068 | Describing a death as a side-effect rather than a goal may just be good public relations [Stout,R] |
52 | We choose things for their fineness, their advantage, or for pleasure [Aristotle] |
46 | We must take for granted that we should act according to right principle [Aristotle] |
5153 | There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation [Aristotle] |
45 | We aim not to identify goodness, but to be good [Aristotle] |
5134 | Perhaps we get a better account of happiness as the good for man if we know his function [Aristotle] |
31 | If bodily organs have functions, presumably the whole person has one [Aristotle] |
5231 | To eat vast amounts is unnatural, since natural desire is to replenish the deficiency [Aristotle] |
5234 | For the great-souled man it is sometimes better to be dead [Aristotle] |
5075 | Aristotle said there are two levels of virtue - the conventional and the intellectual [Taylor,R on Aristotle] |
21 | Moral acts are so varied that they must be convention, not nature [Aristotle] |
4370 | For Aristotle 'good' means purpose, and value is real but relational [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
18227 | We desire final things just for themselves, and not for the sake of something else [Aristotle] |
4381 | How can an action be intrinsically good if it is a means to 'eudaimonia'? [Ackrill on Aristotle] |
33 | Each named function has a distinctive excellence attached to it [Aristotle] |
5154 | Excess and deficiency are bad for virtue, just as they are for bodily health [Aristotle] |
5268 | Disreputable pleasures are only pleasant to persons with diseased perception [Aristotle] |
5229 | The more virtuous and happy a person is, the worse the prospect becomes of ending life [Aristotle] |
90 | All altruism is an extension of self-love [Aristotle] |
5263 | Most people want to be loved rather than to love, because they desire honour [Aristotle] |
5262 | Only lovable things are loved, and they must be good, or pleasant, or useful [Aristotle] |
101 | Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom [Aristotle] |
2689 | Good people enjoy virtuous action, just as musicians enjoy beautiful melodies [Aristotle] |
5142 | Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds [Aristotle] |
5243 | The best people exercise their virtue towards others, rather than to themselves [Aristotle] |
92 | Self-love benefits ourselves, and also helps others [Aristotle] |
3559 | For Aristotle, true self-love is love of the higher parts of one's soul [Aristotle, by Annas] |
20 | The good is 'that at which all things aim' [Aristotle] |
5128 | Each category of existence has its own good, so one Good cannot unite them [Aristotle] |
5129 | There should be one science of the one Good, but there are many overlapping sciences [Aristotle] |
5131 | Intelligence and sight, and some pleasures and honours, are candidates for being good in themselves [Aristotle] |
5135 | Goods are external, of the soul, and of the body; those of the soul (such as action) come first [Aristotle] |
5269 | Pleasure is not the Good, and not every pleasure is desirable [Aristotle] |
23 | The masses believe, not unreasonably, that the good is pleasure [Aristotle] |
109 | Clearly perfect conduct will involve both good intention and good action [Aristotle] |
26 | Wealth is not the good, because it is only a means [Aristotle] |
25 | You can be good while asleep, or passive, or in pain [Aristotle] |
5136 | Happiness seems to involve virtue, or practical reason, or wisdom, or pleasure, or external goods [Aristotle] |
18673 | Eudaimonia is said to only have final value, where reason and virtue are also useful [Aristotle, by Orsi] |
5127 | Does Aristotle say eudaimonia is the aim, or that it ought to be? [McDowell on Aristotle] |
5143 | Some good and evil can happen to the dead, just as the living may be unaware of a disaster [Aristotle] |
2681 | Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are [Nagel on Aristotle] |
5132 | Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself [Aristotle] |
30 | Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action [Aristotle] |
5139 | If happiness can be achieved by study and effort, then it is open to anyone who is not corrupt [Aristotle] |
39 | Happiness needs total goodness and a complete life [Aristotle] |
5144 | Happiness is activity in accordance with complete virtue, for a whole life, with adequate external goods [Aristotle] |
100 | The happy life is in accordance with goodness, which implies seriousness [Aristotle] |
106 | The best life is that of the intellect, since that is in the fullest sense the man [Aristotle] |
4374 | For Aristotle, pleasure is the perception of particulars as valuable [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
5230 | There are pleasures of the soul (e.g. civic honour, and learning) and of the body [Aristotle] |
5270 | Intellectual pleasures are superior to sensuous ones [Aristotle] |
383 | God feels one simple pleasure forever [Aristotle] |
96 | Nobody would choose the mentality of a child, even if they had the greatest childish pleasures [Aristotle] |
99 | If happiness were mere amusement it wouldn't be worth a lifetime's effort [Aristotle] |
98 | It is right to pursue pleasure, because it enhances life, and life is a thing to choose [Aristotle] |
5259 | If we criticise bodily pleasures as licentious and bad, why do we consider their opposite, pain, to be bad? [Aristotle] |
97 | There are many things we would want even if they brought no pleasure [Aristotle] |
5256 | Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity [Aristotle] |
5258 | While replenishing we even enjoy unpleasant things, but only absolute pleasures when we are replenished [Aristotle] |
49 | Character is revealed by the pleasures and pains people feel [Aristotle] |
53 | Feeling inappropriate pleasure or pain affects conduct, and is central to morality [Aristotle] |
84 | The greater the pleasure, the greater the hindrance to thought [Aristotle] |
88 | Nobody would choose all the good things in world, if the price was loss of identity [Aristotle] |
91 | A man is his own best friend; therefore he ought to love himself best [Aristotle] |
71 | Licentiousness concerns the animal-like pleasures of touch and taste [Aristotle] |
58 | If virtues are not feelings or faculties, then they must be dispositions [Aristotle] |
5137 | Many pleasures are relative to a person, but some love what is pleasant by nature, and virtue is like that [Aristotle] |
4342 | Aristotle must hold that virtuous King Priam's life can be marred, but not ruined [Hursthouse on Aristotle] |
4382 | Feelings are vital to virtue, but virtue requires choice, which feelings lack [Kosman on Aristotle] |
54 | Actions are not virtuous because of their quality, but because of the way they are done [Aristotle] |
4373 | Virtue is the feeling of emotions that accord with one's perception of value [Achtenberg on Aristotle] |
63 | Virtue is a purposive mean disposition, which follows a rational principle and prudent judgment [Aristotle] |
5214 | Acts may be forgivable if particular facts (rather than principles) are unknown [Aristotle] |
5215 | There are six categories of particular cirumstance affecting an action [Aristotle] |
107 | A life of moral virtue brings human happiness, but not divine happiness [Aristotle] |
5216 | An act is involuntary if the particular facts (esp. circumstances and effect) are unknown [Aristotle] |
55 | People who perform just acts unwillingly or ignorantly are still not just [Aristotle] |
34 | The good for man is an activity of soul in accordance with virtue [Aristotle] |
5149 | The two main parts of the soul give rise to two groups of virtues - intellectual, and moral [Aristotle] |
5156 | How can good actions breed virtues, if you need to be virtuous to perform good actions? [Aristotle] |
5157 | If a thing has excellence, this makes the thing good, and means it functions well [Aristotle] |
4369 | It is not universals we must perceive for virtue, but particulars, seen as intrinsically good [Aristotle, by Achtenberg] |
5158 | Actions concern particular cases, and rules must fit the cases, not the other way round [Aristotle] |
5237 | We cannot properly judge by rules, because blame depends on perception of particulars [Aristotle] |
3548 | Aristotle neglects the place of rules in the mature virtuous person [Annas on Aristotle] |
4367 | Moral virtue is not natural, because its behaviour can be changed, unlike a falling stone [Aristotle] |
5223 | We are partly responsible for our own dispositions and virtues [Aristotle] |
4362 | Dispositions to virtue are born in us, but without intelligence they can be harmful [Aristotle] |
5225 | The end of virtue is what is right and honourable or fine [Aristotle] |
56 | A person is good if they act from choice, and for the sake of the actions in themselves [Aristotle] |
93 | Existence is desirable if one is conscious of one's own goodness [Aristotle] |
44 | We acquire virtues by habitually performing good deeds [Aristotle] |
51 | True education is training from infancy to have correct feelings [Aristotle] |
43 | Nature enables us to be virtuous, but habit develops virtue in us [Aristotle] |
5152 | Like activities produce like dispositions, so we must give the right quality to the activity [Aristotle] |
4378 | We must practise virtuous acts because practice actually teaches us the nature of virtue [Burnyeat on Aristotle] |
6793 | People can break into the circle of virtue and good action, by chance, or with help [Aristotle] |
57 | We acquire virtue by the repeated performance of just and temperate acts [Aristotle] |
2690 | Associating with good people can be a training in virtue [Aristotle] |
5222 | A person of good character sees the truth about what is actually fine and pleasant [Aristotle] |
4394 | People develop their characters through the activities they pursue [Aristotle] |
5239 | When people speak of justice they mean a disposition of character to behave justly [Aristotle] |
4379 | It is very hard to change a person's character traits by argument [Aristotle] |
4386 | Character can be heroic, excellent, controlled, uncontrolled, bad, or brutish [Aristotle, by Urmson] |
5250 | The three states of character to avoid are vice, 'akrasia' and brutishness [Aristotle] |
60 | The mean is relative to the individual (diet, for example) [Aristotle] |
61 | Skills are only well performed if they observe the mean [Aristotle] |
47 | Virtues are destroyed by the excess and preserved by the mean [Aristotle] |
4406 | Aristotle aims at happiness by depressing emotions to a harmless mean [Nietzsche on Aristotle] |
4388 | One drink a day is moderation, but very drunk once a week could exhibit the mean [Urmson on Aristotle] |
4387 | In most normal situations it is not appropriate to have any feelings at all [Urmson on Aristotle] |
62 | We must tune our feelings to be right in every way [Aristotle] |
5159 | The mean is always right, and the extremes are always wrong [Aristotle] |
65 | The vices to which we are most strongly pulled are most opposed to the mean [Aristotle] |
5161 | To make one's anger exactly appropriate to a situation is very difficult [Aristotle] |
5235 | Patient people are indignant, but only appropriately, as their reason prescribes [Aristotle] |
5238 | The sincere man is praiseworthy, because truth is the mean between boasting and irony [Aristotle] |
3545 | The mean implies that vices are opposed to one another, not to virtue [Aristotle, by Annas] |
5217 | At times we ought to feel angry, and we ought to desire health and learning [Aristotle] |
5236 | It is foolish not to be angry when it is appropriate [Aristotle] |
64 | There is no right time or place or way or person for the committing of adultery; it is just wrong [Aristotle] |
4117 | Nowadays we (unlike Aristotle) seem agreed that someone can have one virtue but lack others [Williams,B on Aristotle] |
5251 | Gods exist in a state which is morally superior to virtue [Aristotle] |
5151 | Justice concerns our behaviour in dealing with other people [Aristotle] |
4389 | What emotion is displayed in justice, and what are its deficiency and excess? [Urmson on Aristotle] |
23556 | Particular justice concerns specific temptations, but universal justice concerns the whole character [Aristotle] |
5261 | Between friends there is no need for justice [Aristotle] |
5240 | The word 'unjust' describes law-breaking and exploitation [Aristotle] |
5242 | Justice is whatever creates or preserves social happiness [Aristotle] |
5226 | True courage is an appropriate response to a dangerous situation [Aristotle] |
5224 | Strictly speaking, a courageous person is one who does not fear an honourable death [Aristotle] |
24 | Honour depends too much on the person who awards it [Aristotle] |
5233 | Honour is clearly the greatest external good [Aristotle] |
4119 | If you aim at honour, you make yourself dependent on the people to whom you wish to be superior [Aristotle, by Williams,B] |
18229 | Only contemplation is sought for its own sake; practical activity always offers some gain [Aristotle] |
104 | Contemplation (with the means to achieve it) is the perfect happiness for man [Aristotle] |
5272 | The intellectual life is divine in comparison with ordinary human life [Aristotle] |
105 | We should aspire to immortality, and live by what is highest in us [Aristotle] |
110 | Lower animals cannot be happy, because they cannot contemplate [Aristotle] |
18232 | The gods live, but action is unworthy of them, so that only leaves contemplation? [Aristotle] |
111 | The more people contemplate, the happier they are [Aristotle] |
5138 | The fine deeds required for happiness need external resources, like friends or wealth [Aristotle] |
38 | A man can't be happy if he is ugly, or of low birth, or alone and childless [Aristotle] |
1665 | It is nonsense to say a good person is happy even if they are being tortured or suffering disaster [Aristotle] |
108 | The virtue of generosity requires money [Aristotle] |
2686 | Aristotle does not confine supreme friendship to moral heroes [Cooper,JM on Aristotle] |
2687 | For Aristotle in the best friendships the binding force is some excellence of character [Cooper,JM on Aristotle] |
85 | Bad men can have friendships of utility or pleasure, but only good men can be true friends [Aristotle] |
5252 | 'Enkrateia' (control) means abiding by one's own calculations [Aristotle] |
5245 | Society collapses if people cannot rely on exchanging good for good and evil for evil [Aristotle] |
5265 | Even more than a social being, man is a pairing and family being [Aristotle] |
5133 | Man is by nature a social being [Aristotle] |
86 | A bad political constitution (especially a tyranny) makes friendship almost impossible [Aristotle] |
5140 | Political science aims at the highest good, which involves creating virtue in citizens [Aristotle] |
21046 | The aim of legislators, and of a good constitution, is to create good citizens [Aristotle] |
5241 | We hold that every piece of legislation is just [Aristotle] |
87 | Democracy is the best constitution for friendship, because it encourages equality [Aristotle] |
5260 | Friendship holds communities together, and lawgivers value it more than justice [Aristotle] |
5264 | Friendship is based on a community of sharing [Aristotle] |
21047 | Aristotle thought slavery is just if it is both necessary and natural [Aristotle, by Sandel] |
21044 | For Aristotle, debates about justice are debates about the good life [Aristotle, by Sandel] |
5246 | Natural justice is the same everywhere, and does not (unlike legal justice) depend on acceptance [Aristotle] |
5150 | Intellectual virtue arises from instruction (and takes time), whereas moral virtue result from habit [Aristotle] |
5228 | A suicide embraces death to run away from hardships, rather than because it is a fine deed [Aristotle] |
19739 | The maxim for suicide is committed to the value of life, and is thus contradictory [Kant] |
2684 | Aristotle needed to distinguish teleological description from teleological explanation [Irwin on Aristotle] |
5227 | The nature of any given thing is determined by its end [Aristotle] |
5219 | Types of cause are nature, necessity and chance, and mind and human agency [Aristotle] |
20083 | Aristotelian causation involves potentiality inputs into processes (rather than a pair of events) [Stout,R] |
24037 | We all assume immortality is impossible [Aristotle] |