World Congress of Philosophy

     Quotes  /  By person  /  Thales Quotes A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind.- -  Thales Οὔ τι τὰ πολλὰ ἔπη φρονίμην ἀπεφήνατο δόξαν A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind. As quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, I, 35; as translated in Dictionary of Quotations (Classical) edited by Thomas Benfield Harbottle, p. 455 Also translated as: "Many words do not declare an understanding heart."

Personalities  /  Judith Jarvis Thomson Allegories  /  Allegory of the Trolley Problem ,  Philippa Foot -  Judith Jarvis Thomson Judith Thomson’s work is primarily in moral theory and metaphysics. Her most recently published book is entitled “Normativity” (and that’s, of course, its topic), published in 2008. Her most recently published article is on the trolley problems; it is a response to Frances Kamm’s Tanner Lectures, and was published in Kamm’s “Trolley Problem Mysteries” in 2015. Judy is currently working on a book entitled “Ethics”, which is concerned with moral theory and the metaphysics underlying certain assumptions that moral theory rests on. Judith Jarvis Thomson (October 4, 1929 – November 20, 2020) was an American philosopher who studied and worked on ethics and metaphysics. She is credited with having contributing to invent (along with Philippa Foot) the trolley proble. She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019. ...

Stuff  /  Allegories  /  Allegory of the Trolley Problem ,  Philippa Foot -  Judith Jarvis Thomson The Allegory of the Trolley Problem Imagine you are standing beside some tram tracks. In the distance, you spot a runaway trolley hurtling down the tracks towards five workers who cannot hear it coming. Even if they do spot it, they won’t be able to move out of the way in time. As this disaster looms, you glance down and see a lever connected to the tracks. You realise that if you pull the lever, the tram will be diverted down a second set of tracks away from the five unsuspecting workers. However, down this side track is one lone worker, just as oblivious as his colleagues. So, would you pull the lever, leading to one death but saving five? The trolley problem is a series of thought experiments in ethics and psychology, involving stylized ethical dilemmas of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number. Opinions on the ethics of each scenario turn ...

Personalities  /  Aleister Crowley Quotes  /  By person  /  Aleister Crowley  Quotes Aleister Crowley, original name Edward Alexander Crowley, (born October 12, 1875, Royal Leamington Spa, England—died December 1, 1947, Hastings), British occultist, writer, and mountaineer, who was a practitioner of “magick” (as he spelled it) and called himself the Beast 666. He was denounced in his own time for his decadent lifestyle and had few followers, but he became a cult figure after his death. Crowley’s father was an heir to a brewing fortune who became an evangelist for the Plymouth Brethren, a Nonconformist religious denomination. The younger Crowley, however, formed an aversion to Christianity early in life. As a student at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, he began to use the name Aleister and gained a reputation for skill at chess. In 1898 he left the university without taking a degree. His own inheritance left him free to travel widely and to arr...

Quotes  /  By person  /  Aleister Crowley  Quotes May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall! - Aleister Crowley