Ideas

Browse key ideas extracted from great books of thought. Philosophy, politics, economics, and more.

  • De l'âme by Aristote — 1678 ideas
  • On the Soul by Aristotle — 1678 ideas
  • Propos by Alain — 1197 ideas
  • La Richesse des nations by Adam Smith — 1156 ideas
  • The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith — 1156 ideas
  • Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra by Friedrich Nietzsche — 1088 ideas
  • Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche — 1088 ideas
  • Les raisons et les personnes by Derek Parfit — 1004 ideas
  • Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit — 1004 ideas
  • An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke — 1002 ideas
  • Essai sur l'entendement humain by John Locke — 1002 ideas
  • L'Homme qui rit by Victor Hugo — 927 ideas
  • Le Capital : Critique de l'économie politique by Karl Marx — 889 ideas
  • Capital: A Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx — 889 ideas
  • Théorie de la justice by John Rawls — 830 ideas
  • A Theory of Justice by John Rawls — 830 ideas
  • Alcibiades by Plato — 572 ideas
  • Phédon by Platon — 572 ideas
  • Alcibiade by Platon — 572 ideas
  • The Republic by Plato — 572 ideas
  • La République by Platon — 572 ideas
  • Ménon by Platon — 572 ideas
  • Phaedo by Plato — 572 ideas
  • Meno by Plato — 572 ideas
  • Condition de l'homme moderne by Hannah Arendt — 542 ideas
  • The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt — 542 ideas
  • Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty — 511 ideas
  • Phénoménologie de la perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty — 511 ideas
  • Éthique by Baruch Spinoza — 503 ideas
  • Ethics by Baruch Spinoza — 503 ideas
  • Économie et société by Max Weber — 499 ideas
  • Economy and Society by Max Weber — 499 ideas
  • Oneself as Another by Paul Ricœur — 474 ideas
  • Soi-même comme un autre by Paul Ricœur — 474 ideas
  • Confessions by Augustine of Hippo — 437 ideas
  • Les Confessions by Saint Augustin — 437 ideas
  • What Is Property? by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon — 410 ideas
  • Qu'est-ce que la propriété ? by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon — 410 ideas
  • Letters from a Stoic by Seneca — 354 ideas
  • Lettres à Lucilius by Sénèque — 354 ideas
  • What Computers Can't Do by Hubert L. Dreyfus — 346 ideas
  • L'intelligence artificielle : mythes et limites by Hubert L. Dreyfus — 346 ideas
  • Democracy and Totalitarianism by Raymond Aron — 336 ideas
  • Démocratie et totalitarisme by Raymond Aron — 336 ideas
  • Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault — 318 ideas
  • Surveiller et punir by Michel Foucault — 318 ideas
  • Méditations cartésiennes by Edmund Husserl — 307 ideas
  • Cartesian Meditations by Edmund Husserl — 307 ideas
  • Barbarism by Michel Henry — 243 ideas
  • La Barbarie by Michel Henry — 243 ideas
  • Du contrat social by Jean-Jacques Rousseau — 235 ideas
  • The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau — 235 ideas
  • The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli — 209 ideas
  • Le Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli — 209 ideas
  • Méditations métaphysiques by René Descartes — 189 ideas
  • Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes — 189 ideas
  • Discourse on the Method by René Descartes — 189 ideas
  • Discours de la méthode by René Descartes — 189 ideas
  • The Art of War by Sun Tzu — 178 ideas
  • L'Art de la guerre by Sun Tzu — 178 ideas
  • The Ego and the Id by Sigmund Freud — 56 ideas
  • Le Moi et le Ça by Sigmund Freud — 56 ideas

Sample Ideas

  • Meditations on First Philosophy — He argues that he cannot be the cause of his own existence, nor can his existence be adequately explained by his parents or any causes less perfect than God, because if he were causa sui he would lack no perfections of which he has an idea, and producing a thinking being from nothing is a greater effect than acquiring accidental perfections.
  • Les Propos d'Alain — Une vérité déjà su et une proposition déjà démontrée présentent un inconvénient majeur du point de vue de la formation de l’esprit : on ne peut plus les apprendre ni en être sûr au sens vivant du terme, car l’appropriation active et la certitude personnelle supposent la recherche et la preuve par soi-même.
  • Cartesian Meditations — Within transcendental phenomenology, one must distinguish between the primordial immanence of single subjectivity—its original stream of consciousness and facultative ‘I move’—abstracted from empathic acceptances, and the wider immanence that already includes empathy, within which non-originary presentations function together with originary ones in the constitution of the world.
  • ethics — The idea of an actually existing individual thing is caused by God only insofar as he is affected by another individual idea, and so on to infinity; God's knowledge of what happens in an object is insofar as he has the idea of that object.
  • The Human Condition — In modern science phenomena are ‘saved’ only by reduction to mathematical order; distance and remoteness enable the mind to impose its patterns, transforming any assemblage into a mere multitude that will always yield configurations like a curve between random points—hence the mathematical tractability of the universe lacks deep philosophical significance.
  • Capital Volume 1 — The industrial capitalist is the initial extractor of surplus value but not its sole beneficiary, as he must share it with other sectors of the capitalist class.
  • Démocratie et totalitarisme — Les régimes constitutionnels‑pluralistes déçoivent inévitablement parce qu’ils sont prosaïques, fondés sur l’acceptation des imperfections humaines, et que leurs vertus les plus hautes sont surtout négatives (ce qu’ils empêchent), vertus dont on ne prend pleinement conscience qu’une fois perdues.
  • The Prince — A prince’s prudence is revealed by his choice of ministers: capable and faithful ministers indicate a wise ruler, while unsuitable ones condemn his judgment.
  • Thus Spoke Zarathustra — The evening-twilight melancholy (‘spirit of evening-melancholy’) is personified as a Devil that compels an epiphany or apparition whose sex is uncertain, dramatizing mood as a revelatory but deceptive power.
  • La Barbarie — C’est l’Individu comme ipséité auto‑affective, et non comme individu empirique dans l’espace, qui unifie en un même monde la forteresse et la ligne électrique, de sorte que les lois de leur relation sont des lois esthétiques de la sensibilité ; lorsque la science ignore ces lois fondatrices de tout « mettre ensemble », un monde par nature esthétique prend la figure de l’horrible et de l’horreur.