PHILOSOPHY QUOTES IV

quotations about philosophy

Philosophy quote

Two half philosophers will probably never a whole metaphysician make.

GASTON BACHELARD

Fragments of a Poetics of Fire

Tags: Gaston Bachelard


Everyone has his own philosophy that doesn't hold good for anybody else.

KOBO ABE

The Woman in the Dunes

Tags: Kobo Abe


You could almost define a philosopher as someone who won't take common sense for an answer.

RICHARD DAWKINS

The God Delusion

Tags: Richard Dawkins


The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

The Philosophy of Logical Atomism

Tags: Bertrand Russell


The true philosopher is a brave spirit; dauntless to discover, and bold to declare the truth at all hazard. He feels the inner constraint of his messages, and, as a prophet to his day and generation, he must needs speak, though the whole world cry to him, silence.

JOHN GRIER HIBBEN

The Problems of Philosophy

Tags: John Grier Hibben


You can't do without philosophy, since everything has its hidden meaning which we must know.

MAXIM GORKY

The Zykovs

Tags: Maxim Gorky


The wisdom of philosophy is set in opposition to the common sense of mankind. The first pretends to demonstrate, a priori, that there can be no such thing as a material world; that sun, moon, stars, and earth, vegetable and animal bodies, are, and can be nothing else, but sensations in the mind, or images of those sensations in the memory and imagination; that, like pain and joy, they can have no existence when they are not thought of. The last can conceive no otherwise of this opinion, than as a kind of metaphysical lunacy, and concludes that too much learning is apt to make men mad; and that the man who seriously entertains this belief, though in other respects he may be a very good man, as a man may be who believes that he is made of glass; yet, surely he hath a soft place in his understanding, and hath been hurt by much thinking.

THOMAS REID

Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

Tags: Thomas Reid


Now, if wisdom is God, who made all things, as is attested by the divine authority and truth, then the philosopher is a lover of God.

ST. AUGUSTINE

The City of God

Tags: St. Augustine


Philosophy, like science, consists of theories or insights arrived at as a result of systemic reflection or reasoning in regard to the data of experience. It involves, therefore, the analysis of experience and the synthesis of the results of analysis into a comprehensive or unitary conception. Philosophy seeks a totality and harmony of reasoned insight into the nature and meaning of all the principal aspects of reality.

JOSEPH ALEXANDER LEIGHTON

The Field of Philosophy

Tags: Joseph Alexander Leighton


If philosophy is still necessary, it is so only in the way it has been from time immemorial: as critique, as resistance to the expanding heteronomy, even if only as thought's powerless attempt to remain its own master and to convict of untruth, by their own criteria, both a fabricated mythology and a conniving, resigned acquiescence.

THEODOR W. ADORNO

Why Still Philosophy?

Tags: Theodor W. Adorno


If your divines are not philosophers, your philosophy will neither be divine, nor able to divine.

JULIUS CHARLES HARE

Guesses at Truth

Tags: Julius Charles Hare


A man becomes a philosopher by reason of a certain perplexity, from which he seeks to free himself.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

The World As Will and Idea

Tags: Arthur Schopenhauer


Philosophical problems can be compared to locks on safes, which can be opened by dialing a certain word or number, so that no force can open the door until just this word has been hit upon, and once it is hit upon any child can open it.

LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN

Philosophical Occasions

Tags: Ludwig Wittgenstein


Philosophy is no longer a field conducted entirely from the comfort of an armchair. Over the past decade, this notoriously abstract discipline has developed a branch of "experimental philosophy" that conducts its own scientific studies. Though such work continues to face resistance from conventional armchair philosophers, there's an increasing focus on using empirical studies in conjunction with philosophical thinking: One survey found that 62% of highly cited papers from 1960-1999 used a priori (purely reason-based) methods. From 2009 to 2013, just 12% of comparably cited papers used a priori thinking alone.

OLIVIA GOLDHILL

"Philosophers are using science and data points to test theories of morality", Quartz, March 28, 2016


Philosophy is a discipline open to anyone -- all you need is a bit of curiosity and an open mind.

BILL BREWER

"Philosophy: Understanding personal identity with Professor Bill Brewer", The Guardian, April 18, 2016


The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.

KARL MARX

Theses on Feuerbach

Tags: Karl Marx


Philosophy and the neurosciences collaborate in a very fruitful manner.

KATHINKA EVERS

"Neuroscience and philosophy take the stand", Indiana Daily Student, April 10, 2016


When we affirm that philosophy begins with wonder, we are affirming in effect that sentiment is prior to reason.

RICHARD WEAVER

Ideas Have Consequences


Only a philosopher's mind grows wings, since its memory always keeps it as close as possible to those realities by being close to which the gods are divine. A man who uses reminders of these things correctly is always at the highest, most perfect level of initiation, and he is the only one who is perfect as perfect can be. He stands outside human concerns and draws close to the divine; ordinary people think he is disturbed and rebuke him for this, unaware that he is possessed by god.

PLATO

Phaedrus

Tags: Plato


Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?

JOHN KEATS

"Lamia"

Tags: John Keats