Quotessence
Home / Authors / Andrew Bernstein
Andrew Bernstein

Andrew Bernstein Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllStressMenStressorsMindThinkingWorldBelieveCollectivismHeroHumans

Famous Andrew Bernstein Quotes

“In the history of philosophy, the term “rationalism” has two distinct meanings. In one sense, it signifies an unbreached commitment to reasoned thought in contrast to any irrationalist rejection of the mind. In this sense, Aristotle and Ayn Rand are preeminent rationalists, opposed to any form of unreason, including faith. In a narrower sense, however, rationalism contrasts with empiricism as regards the false dichotomy between commitment to so-called “pure” reason (i.e., reason detached from perceptual reality) and an exclusive reliance on sense experience (i.e., observation without inference therefrom). Rationalism, in this sense, is a commitment to reason construed as logical deduction from non-observational starting points, and a distrust of sense experience (e.g., the method of Descartes). Empiricism, according to this mistaken dichotomy, is a belief that sense experience provides factual knowledge, but any inference beyond observation is a mere manipulation of words or verbal symbols (e.g., the approach of Hume). Both Aristotle and Ayn Rand reject such a false dichotomy between reason and sense experience; neither are rationalists in this narrow sense. Theology is the purest expression of rationalism in the sense of proceeding by logical deduction from premises ungrounded in observable fact—deduction without reference to reality. The so-called “thinking” involved here is purely formal, observationally baseless, devoid of facts, cut off from reality. Thomas Aquinas, for example, was history’s foremost expert regarding the field of “angelology.” No one could match his “knowledge” of angels, and he devoted far more of his massive Summa Theologica to them than to physics.”

PhilosophyFactsRealityHistoryLogicExperiencePhysicsTheologyFactRationalismEmpiricismAristotleHumeAyn RandDavid HumeFalse DichotomyAngelologyLogical DeductionSumma Theologica
Author:Andrew Bernstein
Create image

“Theologians, and religionists in general, start with a fantasy premise and then proceed to apply rigorous formal logic to tease out its implications. Stark himself points out that “theology consists of formal reasoning about God.” This is admirably exact. Theologians, beginning with a wished-for creation of their own minds, analyze that creation’s characteristics by rigorous application of the principles of formal—that is, deductive—logic.”

FantasyLogicTheologyReasoningTheologiansDeductive LogicReligionists
Author:Andrew Bernstein
Create image

“We, the human race, must recognize the truth of—and embrace—the principle of color-blind individualism. We must acknowledge that race does not matter—that skin pigmentation, hair texture, facial bone structure, and so forth—signify zero regarding the only human attribute that does matter: Strength of character. There is only one race—the human race.”

CharacterAmericaRacismJudgementIndividualismCollectivism
Book:American Racism: Its Decline, Its Baleful Resurgence, and Our Looming Race War
Create image

“Here is the tragedy of theology in its distilled essence: The employment of high-powered human intellect, of genius, of profoundly rigorous logical deduction—studying nothing. In the Middle Ages, the great minds capable of transforming the world did not study the world; and so, for most of a millennium, as human beings screamed in agony—decaying from starvation, eaten by leprosy and plague, dying in droves in their twenties—the men of the mind, who could have provided their earthly salvation, abandoned them for otherworldly fantasies.”

MenWorldMindHumansAgeHuman BeingsFantasyStudyMiddleDyingHe ManGeniusCapableEssenceTragedyTwentiesSalvationIntellectTheologyEmploymentLogicalAbandonedAgonyPlagueMiddle AgesTransformingStarvationMillenniumGreat MindsDeductionsLeprosyTransforming The World
Author:Andrew Bernstein
Create image

“For the first time in history, the rational and the good are fully armed in the battle against evil. Here we finally find the answer to our paradox; now we can understand the nature of the social power held by evil. Ultimately, the evil, the irrational, truly has no power. The evil men’s control of morality is transient; it lives on borrowed time made possible only by the errors of the good. In time, as more honest men grasp the truth, evil’s stranglehold will be easily broken.”

MenFirstsMadeEvilSocialAnswersHonestBrokenMoralityBattleFirst TimeErrorsRationalParadoxIrrationalBorrowedHonest ManTransientEvil ManSocial PowerBorrowed Time
Author:Andrew Bernstein
Create image

“Throughout history, independent minds have carried mankind forward. Whether they identified how to make fire or manufacture tools, develop rational philosophy or create man-glorifying art, pioneer scientific knowledge or invent the electric light, independent thinkers have created the goods on which human life and prosperity depend.”

MenMindHumansArtPhilosophyLightFireMankindDependsToolsIndependentProsperityRationalHuman LifeGoodsThinkerElectricPioneersScientific KnowledgeElectric Light
Author:Andrew Bernstein
Create image

“To believe that your husband, wife, parents, kids, boss, job, bank account, or body is even partly responsible for your emotions, to think that there are bullets 'out there' that you have to contend with, that there are stressful life events to overcome, is to miss something vital.”

ThinkingBelieveBodyKidsJobsParentEmotionWifeMissingEventsHusbandOvercomingAccountsResponsibleBossBulletsStressfulYour HusbandBank AccountsHusband WifeStressful Life
Author:Andrew Bernstein
Create image

“The number of stressors has multiplied exponentially: traffic, money, success, work/life balance, the economy, the environment, parenting, family conflict, relationships, disease. As the nature of human life has become far more complicated, our ancient stress response hasn't been able to keep up.”

HumansAbleNumbersEconomyEnvironmentBalanceConflictDiseaseStressResponseAncientComplicatedHuman LifeTrafficWork Life BalanceLife BalanceStressorsFamily ConflictWork And Life Balance
Author:Andrew Bernstein
Create image