“Even if the gods did exist, the Epicureans argued, they didn't care about us. Rather, everything comes from nature, and all that really exists are atoms and void, moving and congregating.” IfsCareMovingAtomsVoidEpicurean Author:Catherine Wilson
“Leibniz accepted the argument that there must be indestructible simple entities if there is to be a complex world, but Epicurean morals and politics and anti-theology dismayed him. His 'monadology' which said that the true atoms of nature were unextended 'living mirrors,' was an imaginative and beautiful system, and even in many ways more modern than Epicurean atomism, than Epicurean atomism, but there was a reactionary aspect to it.” IfsWorldWaySaidBeautifulSimpleMoralModernAspectArgumentMirrorsComplexesAcceptedTheologyAtomsEntityImaginativeReactionariesIndestructibleDismayedEpicurean Author:Catherine Wilson
“We are now returning to the 18th century empirical approach with the new interest in the evolutionary basis of ethics, with 'experimental' moral philosophy and moral psychology. As a result, we understand better why moral formulas are experienced as ineluctable commands, even if there is no commander and even if the notion of an inescapable obligation is just superstition. So moral philosophy has made huge progress.” IfsMadePhilosophyInterestResultsMoralPsychologyProgressCenturyHugeApproachEthicsBasesNotionObligationCommandFormulasSuperstitionsCommanders18th CenturyMoral Philosophy Author:Catherine Wilson
“Even if you just want to make a simple clothing item for yourself or go for a long hike in the forest - something we imagine requires absolutely no resources - you have to go to the store and buy a lot of stuff, and probably use a car.” IfsWantLongUseStuffSimpleImagineCarResourcesStoresForestsClothingsItems Author:Catherine Wilson
“If you live in an acquisitive society you are likely to be acquisitive, but it isn't deeply rooted in human nature, except in the sense that it's deeply rooted to be psychologically receptive to your peers and to advertising.” IfsHumansHuman NatureAdvertisingRootedPeersReceptive Author:Catherine Wilson