#theo

When the critic has said everything in his power about a literary text, he has still said nothing; for the very existence of literature implies that it cannot be replaced by non-literature ↗

— TODOROV TZVETAN

#literary-theory #literature #literary-criticism

Humans do not simply, innocently, and honestly disagree with each other about the good, the just, the right, the principles and applications of moral distinction and valuation, for they are already caught, like it or not, in a complex dynamic of each other’s desires, recognition, power, and comparisons which not only relativizes moral distinctions and valuations, but makes them a constant and dangerous source of discord. ↗

— Gregory B. Sadler

#desire #disagreements #moral-theory #morality #philosophy

Sovereign is he who decides on the exception. ↗

— Carl Schmitt

#political-theory #politics #political-philosophy

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests. ↗

— John Rawls

#individuals #justice #liberalism #philosophy #social-institutions

All resistance is a rupture with what is. And every rupture begins, for those engaged in it, through a rupture with oneself. ↗

— Alain Badiou

#ontology #philosophy #politics #resistance-theory #political-philosophy

Theories of love are found in the works of scientists, philosophers, and theologians. ↗

— Mortimer Adler

#love #philosophers #scientists #theologians #theories

When you work on something that combines both the spectacular and the relatable, the hyperreal and the real, it suddenly can become supernatural. The hypothetical and the theoretical can become literal. ↗

— J. J. Abrams

#both #combines #hypothetical #literal #real

Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible. ↗

— Hosea Ballou

#experience #insubstantial #only #tangible #theories

Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love. If I do not love a person I am not moved to help him by proofs that he is in need; if I do love him, I wait for no proof of a special need to urge me to help him. ↗

— Roland Allen

#beliefs #does #grow #help #him

Philosophers and theologians have argued for centuries over the morality of targeted assassinations - a technique that the Israelis use with some frequency - without ever reaching anything approaching consensus. ↗

— Eric Alterman

#approaching #argued #assassinations #centuries #consensus