“It may be hyperbolic to declare that Shakespeare teaches us more about being human than all the natural scientists combined.” HumansMayNaturalTeachScientistBeing Human Author:Philip Kitcher
“Both Proust and Joyce record the ways in which human perspectives can be transformed. In Portrait, Stephen Dedalus is constantly undergoing epiphanies, but their effects are transitory: the new synthetic complex quickly falls apart. Proust's characters, by contrast, often achieve lasting changes of perspective.” WayHumansCharacterFallRecordsAchieveEffectsPerspectiveComplexesLastingTransformedContrastPortraitsFalling ApartEpiphanyTransitoryJoyceSyntheticProustLasting Change Author:Philip Kitcher
“The variety within Mann's fiction is impressive and fascinating. But Joyce is even more various and many-sided. He begins his career with a wonderful sequence of bleak studies about the ways in which human lives can go awry - in my view, Dubliners is underrated.” WayHumansViewsFictionCareersStudyWonderfulVariousVarietyHuman LifeFascinatingSequenceImpressiveBleakUnderratedJoyce Author:Philip Kitcher
“Ethical inquiry has always been motivated by the aim of improving human conduct. It doesn't follow from that that the goal is to produce a complete rule book that would be applicable to all cases.” HumansBookWould BeGoalCasesProduceAimEthicalMotivatedImprovingInquiry Author:Philip Kitcher
“Because the problems are objective features of the human situation - social animals without the capacities for making social life come easily - ethics is objectively constrained. It's not the case that "anything goes".” HumansProblemSocialAnimalSituationCasesEthicsCapacityObjectivesFeaturesSocial LifeAnything Goes Author:Philip Kitcher
“When I try to outline the history of ethical life, it's sometimes possible to find evidence for a hypothesis about how important transitions actually went. Often, however, that isn't so. There are many facts about human life in the Paleolithic we're never likely to know.” KnowsTryingHumansImportantSometimesFactsEvidenceHuman LifeEthicalTransitionHypothesisOutlines Author:Philip Kitcher
“Refined religion is aimed at realizing ethical values, including the fostering of human lives and human communities.” HumansValuesRealizingCommunityIncludingHuman LifeEthicalRefinedFosteringEthical Values Author:Philip Kitcher
“Secular humanists should recognize those forms of religion as allies in the struggle for human advancement. They should also learn from them, as they try to build a fully secular world in which people can have the opportunity to live rich and fulfilling lives.” PeopleWorldShouldTryingHumansFormOpportunityStruggleRichAlliesSecularFulfillingAdvancementFulfilling Life Author:Philip Kitcher
“Those citizens are distracted by the toys technology has supplied, and fail to recognize the ways in which what they most deeply want is made vulnerable by the coming disruptions of human relations on an over-heated planet.” WayWantHumansMadeTechnologyFailingPlanetsCitizensRelationVulnerableToysDistractedHuman RelationsDisruption Author:Philip Kitcher
“I'm often quite gloomy about the prospects for the human future. But, although I have no competence to intervene directly in a political movement, I hope that what I write may, in combination with the suggestions of others, cause a shift in perspective that will inspire a world-wide movement to accept the only solution to climate change. And before it's too late.” WorldWritingHumansMayPoliticalCausesAcceptingMovementInspirePerspectiveLateSolutionsClimateClimate ChangeWideCombinationToo LateSuggestionsCompetenceGloomyProspectsPolitical MovementsBefore It's Too Late Author:Philip Kitcher
