Well attested lines

Well attested is the other end of the same shelf. Hobbes's 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short' is in Leviathan, and you can name the chapter. Hume's move from is to ought is in the Treatise, and you can name the section. The badge does not mean the sentence is beyond argument. It means the attribution is secure. A newer edition is not automatically closer to the author, and a famous name is not a substitute for the minutes, the chapter, or the section. Point at the work.

“The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Thomas Hobbes · Political philosophy

societypowerdeath

Well attested

Meaning & application

“I am surprised to find, that instead of the usual copulations of propositions, is, and is not, I meet with no proposition that is not connected with an ought, or an ought not.”

David Hume · Empiricism

ethicsknowledgemind

Well attested

Meaning & application

Mini check

Which is the strongest source for "the council voted to close the library"?

The council's published minutes of that meeting.A screenshot of a message forwarded in a local group.A post from someone who heard about it from a neighbour.An opinion column arguing that the library should stay open.

"This edition is newer, so its translation of the ancient sentence is more accurate." What is assumed?

Later editions are taken to sit closer to the source.Our grasp of the old language is taken never to change.Accuracy is taken to mean a smoother style of English.The earliest edition is taken to have vanished entirely.

Try it today

For one favourite line, write the book and the section, or write that you do not have them yet.

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