42 ideas
| 3240 | There is more insight in fundamental perplexity about problems than in their supposed solutions [Nagel] |
| 3242 | Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture can't skip it [Nagel] |
| 3241 | It seems mad, but the aim of philosophy is to climb outside of our own minds [Nagel] |
| 3248 | Realism invites scepticism because it claims to be objective [Nagel] |
| 20989 | Views are objective if they don't rely on a person's character, social position or species [Nagel] |
| 22354 | Things cause perceptions, properties have other effects, hence we reach a 'view from nowhere' [Nagel, by Reiss/Sprenger] |
| 3249 | Modern science depends on the distinction between primary and secondary qualities [Nagel] |
| 22429 | We achieve objectivity by dropping secondary qualities, to focus on structural primary qualities [Nagel] |
| 3247 | Epistemology is centrally about what we should believe, not the definition of knowledge [Nagel] |
| 3252 | Scepticism is based on ideas which scepticism makes impossible [Nagel] |
| 3251 | Observed regularities are only predictable if we assume hidden necessity [Nagel] |
| 3488 | Freud treats the unconscious as intentional and hence mental [Freud, by Searle] |
| 3244 | Personal identity cannot be fully known a priori [Nagel] |
| 3245 | The question of whether a future experience will be mine presupposes personal identity [Nagel] |
| 5689 | Freud and others have shown that we don't know our own beliefs, feelings, motive and attitudes [Freud, by Shoemaker] |
| 3246 | I can't even conceive of my brain being split in two [Nagel] |
| 23950 | Freud said passions are pressures of some flowing hydraulic quantity [Freud, by Solomon] |
| 21059 | General rules of action also need a judgement about when to apply them [Kant] |
| 22344 | Freud is pessimistic about human nature; it is ambivalent motive and fantasy, rather than reason [Freud, by Murdoch] |
| 3257 | Total objectivity can't see value, but it sees many people with values [Nagel] |
| 3265 | We don't worry about the time before we were born the way we worry about death [Nagel] |
| 3263 | If our own life lacks meaning, devotion to others won't give it meaning [Nagel] |
| 3256 | Pain doesn't have a further property of badness; it gives a reason for its avoidance [Nagel] |
| 21061 | Duty does not aim at an end, but gives rise to universal happiness as aim of the will [Kant] |
| 3261 | Something may be 'rational' either because it is required or because it is acceptable [Nagel] |
| 21060 | It can't be a duty to strive after the impossible [Kant] |
| 3258 | If cockroaches can't think about their actions, they have no duties [Nagel] |
| 3254 | If we can decide how to live after stepping outside of ourselves, we have the basis of a moral theory [Nagel] |
| 3264 | We should see others' viewpoints, but not lose touch with our own values [Nagel] |
| 21062 | The will's motive is the absolute law itself, and moral feeling is receptivity to law [Kant] |
| 3255 | We find new motives by discovering reasons for action different from our preexisting motives [Nagel] |
| 3262 | Utilitarianism is too demanding [Nagel] |
| 21071 | There can be no restraints on freedom if reason does not reveal some basic rights [Kant] |
| 21063 | Personal contracts are for some end, but a civil state contract involves a duty to share [Kant] |
| 21068 | There must be a unanimous contract that citizens accept majority decisions [Kant] |
| 21069 | A contract is theoretical, but it can guide rulers to make laws which the whole people will accept [Kant] |
| 21070 | A law is unjust if the whole people could not possibly agree to it [Kant] |
| 21067 | A citizen must control his own life, and possess property or an important skill [Kant] |
| 21064 | A lawful civil state must embody freedom, equality and independence for its members [Kant] |
| 21066 | Citizens can rise to any rank that talent, effort and luck can achieve [Kant] |
| 21065 | You can't make a contract renouncing your right to make contracts! [Kant] |
| 21072 | The people (who have to fight) and not the head of state should declare a war [Kant] |