Sentence examples for mere rules from inspiring English sources

The craft of writing involves more than mere rules of prosody.

Though Mill does not treat secondary principles as mere rules of thumb in utilitarian calculation, he does not think that they should be followed uncritically or independently of their consequences.

Burke gave only qualified support to movements for parliamentary reform; though he accepted the possibility of widening political participation, he rejected any doctrine of mere rule of numbers.

More profoundly, he attempted to analyze the fundamental ideas animating the movement and, fastening on the Revolutionary concepts of "the rights of man" and popular sovereignty, emphasized the dangers of democracy in the abstract and the mere rule of numbers when unrestrained and unguided by the responsible leadership of a hereditary aristocracy.

For years now, many of my friends, both Chinese and foreign, party members and outspoken critics, have been looking for evolutionary steps towards a greater separation of state and party, more genuine rule of law (as opposed to mere rule by regulation), a larger space for NGOs and more open public debate.

And yet a rule that is a mere "rule of thumb" is a paper shield against temptation.

In a city where driving often seems more akin to performing interpretive dance than following mere traffic rules, drivers are trying to cope with the latest road shocker: the sudden, strict enforcement of mandatory seat-belt laws.

Heuristically, these three consistency challenges allow for an analysis that concerns prescribed patterns of interaction rather than focusing on mere individual rules.

Shorn of its objective content, democracy is reduced to mere majority rule and public opinion to some measurable quantity.

Thus, in the example from § 29 of the Prolegomena, Kant begins from a mere "empirical rule" (that heat always follows illumination by the sun) and then proceeds to a "necessary and universally valid" law by adding the a priori concept of cause to this (so far) merely inductive rule.

At one point, he even criticizes views that limit democracy to mere majoritarian rule insofar as they neglect the importance of the single individual's ability "to make his personal opinion be heard and appreciated," preferably in smaller publics, such as families, schools, local communities (cited in L. Embree 1999, 271).