Learn more about religionandspirituality with this collection
Leonardo da Vinci's creative process
How to approach problem-solving like da Vinci
The importance of curiosity and observation
Truth, knowledge, justice ā to understand how our loftiest abstractions earn their keep, trace them to their practical origins
"Ideas, Mr Carlyle, ideas, nothing but ideas!ā scoffed a hard-headed businessman over dinner with Thomas Carlyle, the Victorian essayist and historian of the French Revolution. The businessman had had enough of Carlyleās endless droning on about ideas ā what do ideas matter anyway? Carlyle shot back: āThere was once a man called Rousseau who wrote a book containing nothing but ideas.Ā
1
3 reads
The second edition was bound in the skins of those who laughed at the first.ā Ideas have consequences. Of course, Carlyle picked an easy case. He was referring to Jean-Jacques Rousseauās On the Social Contract (1762), a book brimming with incendiary political ideas that went on to fire up the leaders of the French Revolution. But the case for the practical importance of ideas is much harder to make for ideas that are more redolent of idle magniloquence than of revolutionary action. What of grand abstractions, with which our minds are stocked, such as knowledge, truth or justice?Ā
1
2 reads
These are so entrenched that it is difficult to imagine doing without them. Yet itās even more difficult to pin down just what useful practical difference they make to our lives. What exactly is the point of these ideas? Unlike ideas of air, food and water that allow us to think about the everyday resources we need to survive, the venerable notions of knowledge, truth or justice donāt obviously cater to practical needs. On the contrary, these exalted ideals draw our gaze away from practical pursuits. They are imbued with grandeur because of their superb indifference to mundane human concerns.Ā
1
1 read
Having knowledge is practically useful, but why would we also need the concept of knowledge? The dog who knows where his food is seems fine without the concept of knowledge, so long as heās not called upon to give a commencement address. And yet the concepts of knowledge, truth or justice appear to have been important enough to emerge across different cultures and endure over the ages. Why, then, did we ever come to think in these terms?Ā
1
1 read
Friedrich Nietzsche grumbled that, when it came to identifying the origins of lofty ideas, philosophers had a tendency to be led astray by their own respect for them. In dealing with what they felt were the āhighest conceptsā, the ālast wisps of smoke from the evaporating end of realityā, they had reverently placed them āat the beginning as the beginningā, convinced that the higher could never have grown out of the lower: Platoās eternal Forms, the mind of God, Immanuel Kantās noumenal world ā they had all served as cradles to higher concepts, offering them a suitably distinguished pedigree.
1
1 read
But to insist that higher concepts were bound to have higher origins, Nietzsche thought, was to let oneās respect for those ideas get in the way of a truthful understanding of them. If, after the āDeath of Godā and the advent of Darwinism, we were successfully to ātranslate humanity back into natureā, as Nietzscheās felicitous rallying cry had it, we needed to trace seemingly transcendent ideas such as knowledge, truth or justice to their roots in human concerns ...
1
1 read
More like this
Explore the Worldās
Best Ideas
Save ideas for later reading, for personalized stashes, or for remembering it later.
Start
31 ideas
Start
44 ideas
# Personal Growth
Take Your Ideas
Anywhere
Just press play and we take care of the words.
No Internet access? No problem. Within the mobile app, all your ideas are available, even when offline.
Ideas for your next work project? Quotes that inspire you? Put them in the right place so you never lose them.
Start
47 ideas
Start
75 ideas
My Stashes
Join
2 Million Stashers
4.8
5,740 Reviews
App Store
4.7
72,690 Reviews
Google Play
Sean Green
Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.
ā
Shankul Varada
Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.
ā
samz905
Donāt look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.
ā
Ashley Anthony
This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!
ā
Jamyson Haug
Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.
ā
Laetitia Berton
I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!
ā
Ghazala Begum
Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.
ā
Giovanna Scalzone
Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.
ā
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Access to 200,000+ ideas
ā
Access to the mobile app
ā
Unlimited idea saving & library
ā
ā
Unlimited history
ā
ā
Unlimited listening to ideas
ā
ā
Downloading & offline access
ā
ā
Personalized recommendations
ā
ā
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates