Sign in with Facebook
77,783 books
—
290,248 voters
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” — James Madison, Federalist 47.”
―
―
“Fragile as reason is and limited as law is as the institutionalised medium of reason, that's all we have between us and the tyranny of mere will and the cruelty of unbridled, undisciplined feelings.”
―
―
“Democracy is, among other things, the ability to say 'no' to the boss. But a man cannot say 'no' to the boss, unless he is sure of being able to eat when the boss's favour has been withdrawn.”
― Themes and Variations
― Themes and Variations
“The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.”
― The Nicomachean Ethics
― The Nicomachean Ethics
“The lesson Holmes took from the war can be put in a sentence. It is that certitude leads to violence. This is a proposition that has an easy application and a difficult one. The easy application is to ideologues, dogmatists, and bullies—people who think that their rightness justifies them in imposing on anyone who does not happen to subscribe to their particular ideology, dogma, or notion of turf. If the conviction of rightness is powerful enough, resistance to it will be met, sooner or later, by force. There are people like this in every sphere of life, and it is natural to feel that the world would be a better place without them.”
― The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
― The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
Political Philosophy and Ethics
— 6404 members
— last activity Apr 16, 2026 01:34PM
Study and discussion of the important questions of ethical and political philosophy from Confucius and Socrates to the present. Rules (see also the ...more
Brad’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Brad’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
2,101 books
|
498 friends
1,927 books
|
158 friends
4,587 books
|
2,157 friends
4,166 books
|
44 friends
1,616 books
|
190 friends
2,249 books
|
338 friends
1,782 books
|
58 friends
1,849 books
|
530 friends
More friends…
Polls voted on by Brad
Lists liked by Brad
