“The (atomic) soul is mortal, and the best life is the one with the least pain and the most pleasure.” Quote by Catherine Wilson
“I think we do have a better understanding now of how moral thought and discourse function.” ThinkingUnderstandingMoralFunctionDiscourse Author:Catherine Wilson
“Outside of mathematics and logic, there are common sense truths, such as that it is snowing that normal observers, in a specified context can agree on, subject to vagueness considerations, and theoretical truths, such as that snow is crystallised water vapour, and maybe in-between truths.” WaterCommonSubjectsNormalLogicMathematicsAgreeSnowCommon SenseConsiderationObserversTheoreticalVaguenessVapour Author:Catherine Wilson
“Claims like 'Slavery is wrong' are not fully common-sensical, so they must be at least partly theoretical.” CommonClaimsSlaveryTheoretical Author:Catherine Wilson
“In the academic setting, you take (typically) lonely, interesting middle-aged men and beautiful, intelligent young women, and everybody's motivations for display and conquest are engaged to the max. Sublimated, this can be a powerful force for the good - Plato had a lot to say about that - but acted upon it can bring evils without end.” MenEndsBeautifulYoungMotivationEvilForceInterestingPowerfulMiddleLonelyIntelligentSettingSettingsEngagedAcademicDisplayYoung WomenPlatoConquestMaxMiddle Aged Author:Catherine Wilson
“I had the idea that there were secret laws of the universe that could explain the baffling human reality around me, and that philosophers maybe had the key to them.” HumansIdeasRealityLawUniverseSecretKeysPhilosopher Author:Catherine Wilson
“Oddly, since by now I've written quite a lot on early modern philosophers, I didn't care for the history of philosophy, which I thought dull and obscure, until I got a minor job writing articles for a children's encyclopedia in the history of science and began to make connections between science and philosophy.” WritingChildrenPhilosophyCareJobsWrittenModernConnectionsPhilosopherDullArticlesMinorsObscureEncyclopediaHistory Of ScienceScience And Philosophy Author:Catherine Wilson
“About 70% of what I've written about is centered on the clashes and conformities between the emerging life and physical sciences and older metaphysical frameworks in the 17th and 18th centuries. The other 30% consists of one-off essays or researches into other intriguing contemporary topics such as visual experience, aesthetics, social justice issues, and the epistemology of moral knowledge.” SocialJusticeMoralIssuesWrittenCenturyResearchSocial JusticeContemporaryVisualsConformityTopicsMetaphysicalEssaysFrameworkAestheticsEmergingClashIntriguingEpistemology18th CenturyPhysical Science Author:Catherine Wilson
“The Epicureans denied that the gods had created the world and also denied that they played any role in it.” WorldRolesDeniedEpicurean Author:Catherine Wilson
“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
“Some critics thought the ontology and theory of qualities absurd. No one had ever seen these little atoms, and furthermore, how could their mere arrangement produce a noisy, colourful, world in which day followed night and animals generated their own kind? Instead of a world created, cared, for and supervised by supernatural persons, the Epicureans appeared to the theologians to be assigning everything to chance. The latter were appalled by Lucretius's view of religion as cruel and oppressive and by the Epicurean insistence that death is the end of all experience.” WorldKindLittlesPersonsEndsNightChanceAnimalViewsQualityProduceTheoryMereCriticsAbsurdLatterAtomsArrangementsTheologianNoisyInsistenceOntologyColourfulEpicurean Author:Catherine Wilson