59 ideas
1597 | Thales was the first western thinker to believe the arché was intelligible [Roochnik on Thales] |
7834 | Great philosophies are confessions by the author, growing out of moral intentions [Nietzsche] |
7080 | Metaphysics divided the old unified Greek world into two [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
4643 | The Principle of Sufficient Reason does not presuppose that all explanations will be causal explanations [Baggini /Fosl] |
4633 | You cannot rationally deny the principle of non-contradiction, because all reasoning requires it [Baggini /Fosl] |
4635 | Dialectic aims at unified truth, unlike analysis, which divides into parts [Baggini /Fosl] |
11090 | Why do we want truth, rather than falsehood or ignorance? The value of truth is a problem [Nietzsche] |
4631 | In ideal circumstances, an axiom should be such that no rational agent could possibly object to its use [Baggini /Fosl] |
4632 | 'Natural' systems of deduction are based on normal rational practice, rather than on axioms [Baggini /Fosl] |
4638 | The principle of bivalence distorts reality, as when claiming that a person is or is not 'thin' [Baggini /Fosl] |
7079 | Nietzsche resists nihilism through new values, for a world of becoming, without worship [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
4640 | If identity is based on 'true of X' instead of 'property of X' we get the Masked Man fallacy ('I know X but not Y') [Baggini /Fosl, by PG] |
4647 | 'I have the same car as you' is fine; 'I have the same fiancée as you' is not so good [Baggini /Fosl] |
4639 | Leibniz's Law is about the properties of objects; the Identity of Indiscernibles is about perception of objects [Baggini /Fosl] |
4646 | Is 'events have causes' analytic a priori, synthetic a posteriori, or synthetic a priori? [Baggini /Fosl] |
3013 | Nothing is stronger than necessity, which rules everything [Thales, by Diog. Laertius] |
4645 | 'A priori' does not concern how you learn a proposition, but how you show whether it is true or false [Baggini /Fosl] |
2878 | We see an approximation of a tree, not the full detail [Nietzsche] |
20140 | We shouldn't object to a false judgement, if it enhances and preserves life [Nietzsche] |
4582 | Basic beliefs are self-evident, or sensual, or intuitive, or revealed, or guaranteed [Baggini /Fosl] |
2877 | Morality becomes a problem when we compare many moralities [Nietzsche] |
4644 | A proposition such as 'some swans are purple' cannot be falsified, only verified [Baggini /Fosl] |
4584 | The problem of induction is how to justify our belief in the uniformity of nature [Baggini /Fosl] |
4583 | How can an argument be good induction, but poor deduction? [Baggini /Fosl] |
4634 | Abduction aims at simplicity, testability, coherence and comprehensiveness [Baggini /Fosl] |
4637 | To see if an explanation is the best, it is necessary to investigate the alternative explanations [Baggini /Fosl] |
20355 | The ranking of a person's innermost drives reveals their true nature [Nietzsche] |
2291 | A thought comes when 'it' wants, not when 'I' want [Nietzsche] |
2871 | Wanting 'freedom of will' is wanting to pull oneself into existence out of the swamp of nothingness by one's own hair [Nietzsche] |
4629 | Consistency is the cornerstone of rationality [Baggini /Fosl] |
20381 | It is psychology which reveals the basic problems [Nietzsche] |
2860 | The most boring and dangerous of all errors is Plato's invention of pure spirit and goodness [Nietzsche] |
1568 | Nietzsche felt that Plato's views downgraded the human body and its brevity of life [Nietzsche, by Roochnik] |
2883 | Noble people see themselves as the determiners of values [Nietzsche] |
23440 | Nietzsche's judgement of actions by psychology instead of outcome was poisonous [Foot on Nietzsche] |
2875 | That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil [Nietzsche] |
2868 | Nature is totally indifferent, so you should try to be different from it, not live by it [Nietzsche] |
2882 | Morality originally judged people, and actions only later on [Nietzsche] |
2872 | In the earliest phase of human history only consequences mattered [Nietzsche] |
2885 | The noble soul has reverence for itself [Nietzsche] |
20134 | Moralities extravagantly address themselves to 'all', by falsely generalising [Nietzsche] |
2881 | Virtue has been greatly harmed by the boringness of its advocates [Nietzsche] |
20382 | The four virtues are courage, insight, sympathy, solitude [Nietzsche] |
2879 | In ancient Rome pity was considered neither good nor bad [Nietzsche] |
2859 | The idea of the categorical imperative is just that we should all be very obedient [Nietzsche] |
2884 | The morality of slaves is the morality of utility [Nietzsche] |
2880 | The greatest possibilities in man are still unexhausted [Nietzsche] |
2876 | The thought of suicide is a great reassurance on bad nights [Nietzsche] |
7078 | The freedom of the subject means the collapse of moral certainty [Nietzsche, by Critchley] |
2874 | Man is the animal whose nature has not yet been fixed [Nietzsche] |
6869 | Nietzsche thinks the human condition is to overcome and remake itself [Nietzsche, by Ansell Pearson] |
20137 | The great person engages wholly with life, and is happy to endlessly relive the life they created [Nietzsche] |
20139 | Only aristocratic societies can elevate the human species [Nietzsche] |
20373 | A healthy aristocracy has no qualms about using multitudes of men as instruments [Nietzsche] |
22394 | Democracy diminishes mankind, making them mediocre and lowering their value [Nietzsche] |
1494 | Thales said water is the first principle, perhaps from observing that food is moist [Thales, by Aristotle] |
1713 | Thales must have thought soul causes movement, since he thought magnets have soul [Thales, by Aristotle] |
1742 | Thales said the gods know our wrong thoughts as well as our evil actions [Thales, by Diog. Laertius] |
2867 | Christianity is Platonism for the people [Nietzsche] |