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Quote by Alfred Mele

“...if there is a widely shared concept of intentional action... a philosophical analysis of intentional action that is wholly unconstrained by that concept runs the risk of having nothing more than a philosophical fiction as its subject matter.”

Quote by Alfred Mele

Author

Alfred Mele is a renowned philosopher specializing in ethics, with a particular focus on the philosophy of free will and moral responsibility. Born on May 22, 1951, he has made substantial contributions to the field through his meticulous and insightful analyses. more

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“Some philosophers are drawn to the subject [of philosophy] via their interest in the nature and structure of the world external to us. Others are drawn to it by an interest in the capacities that make humans distinctive in the world. I am a philosopher of the latter sort. My work thus far has been clustered around the nexus of knowledge, communication, and human action.”

World Humans Has Beens Philosophy Action Interest Subjects Communication Capacity Philosophical Structure Philosopher Latter Distinctive Human Actions Nexus

Author:Jason Stanley

“Now I do not myself share that superstitious reverence for the beliefs of common sense which many contemporary philosophers profess. But I think that we must start from them, and that we ought to depart from them only when we find good reason to do so.”

Thinking Reason Belief Common Share Ought Philosophical Philosopher Contemporary Common Sense Reverence Superstitious

Author:C. D. Broad

“As so often happens in philosophy, clever people accept a false general principle on a priori grounds and then devote endless labour and ingenuity to explaining away plain facts which obviously conflict with it.”

People Philosophy Facts Happens Accepting Principles Conflict Philosophical Clever Endless Labour Explaining Ingenuity

Author:C. D. Broad

“Reason is universal because no attempted challenge to its results can avoid appealing to reason in the end-by claiming, for example, that what was presented as an argument is really a rationalization. This can undermine our confidence in the original method or practice only by giving us reasons to believe something else, so that finally we have to think about the arguments to make up our minds.”

Thinking Giving Mind Believe Ends Reason Challenges Results Practice Example Argument Universal Philosophical Originals Method

Book:Other Minds: Critical Essays 1969-1994

Source: Other Minds: Critical Essays 1969-1994

“When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, 'if Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of.'”

Ifs Men Writing Written Proud Philosophical Be Proud

Book:The Enchiridion, or Handbook: With A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus

Source: The Enchiridion, or Handbook: With A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus

“If, like Hume, I had all manner of adornment in my power, I would still have reservations about using them. It is true that some readers will be scared off by dryness. But isn't it necessary to scare off some if in their case the matter would end up in bad hands?”

Ifs Stills Ends Matter Hands Cases Reader Philosophical Scared Scare Reservations Adornment Hume

Book:Notes and Fragments

Source: Notes and Fragments

“...one can hardly deny that mankind has a common store of thoughts which is transmitted from one generation to another.”

Mind Common Knowledge Generations Mankind Deny Stores

Book:Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege

Source: Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege

“It is possible, of course, to operate with figures mechanically, just as it is possible to speak like a parrot: but that hardly deserves the names of thought. It only becomes possible at all after the mathematical notation has, as a result of genuine thought, been so developed that it does the thinking for us, so to speak.”

Thinking Mind Doe Courses Names Speak Results Knowledge Figures Deserve Genuine Mathematical Parrots

Book:The Foundations of Arithmetic: A Logico-Mathematical Enquiry Into the Concept of Number

Source: The Foundations of Arithmetic: A Logico-Mathematical Enquiry Into the Concept of Number

“Could one imagine a stone's having consciousness? And if anyone can do so-why should that not merely prove that such image-mongery is of no interest to us?”

Ifs Should Mind Interest Can Do Consciousness Knowledge Imagine Prove Stones

Book:Philosophical Investigations

Source: Philosophical Investigations

“'Imagine a person whose memory could not retain what the word 'pain' meant-so that he constantly called different things by that name-but nevertheless used the word in a way fitting in with the usual symptoms and presuppositions of pain'-in short he uses it as we all do. Here I should like to say: a wheel that can be turned though nothing else moves with it, is not part of the mechanism.”

Way Should Mind Persons Different Use Pain Moving Used Names Memories Knowledge Imagine Wheels Different Things Usual Mechanism Nevertheless Symptoms Fitting

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein