“Schiller is an important philosopher because he shows just how integral the idea of beauty is in normal life.” Quote by Frederick C. Beiser
“Kripke says that physicalists like me can't explain the 'apparent contingency' of mind-brain identities. He maintains that, if I really believed that pains are C-fibres, then I ought no longer to have any room for the thought that 'they' might come apart. His argument is that, since pains aren't identified via some contingent description, but in terms of how they feel, I have no good way of constructing a possible world, so to speak, where C-fibres are present yet pains absent.” IfsWorldWayFeelsMindMightPainSpeakTermRoomsBrainIdentityOughtArgumentLike MeDescriptionAbsentGood WayContingency Author:David Papineau
“To live well is to live in harmony with ourselves, others and nature, and that idea of harmony is, of course, an aesthetic one.” WellsIdeasCoursesHarmonyAestheticLive Well Author:Frederick C. Beiser
“Schiller never wanted to replace the moral with the aesthetic but he did want the moral to be one part of the aesthetic. He rightly notes the aesthetic dimension of morality, that we use concepts like grace to characterise people who do their duty with ease and pleasure.” PeopleWantUseWantedPleasureMoralGraceDutyMoralityConceptsNotesEaseDimensionsAesthetic Author:Frederick C. Beiser
“The idea of romanticising the world goes back to the idea of creating a harmonious whole where the individual will feel at one with himself, others and nature.” WorldFeelsIdeasWholeIndividualCreatingHarmonious Author:Frederick C. Beiser
“The romantics were reacting against a modern culture that divided individuals from themselves (through specialisation in the division of labor), from others (the competitive market place) and from nature, which had been reduced down to a machine through technology. The antidote to such division is unity and wholeness, which means feeling at home again in the world.” WorldMeanFeelingsHomeCultureIndividualTechnologyModernLaborMachinesUnityDivisionDividedWholenessAntidoteReactingModern CultureDivision Of Labor Author:Frederick C. Beiser
“The romantics really did want to romanticise the world itself, and that meant re-creating the state, society and even nature so that it became a work of art.” WorldWantArtStatesCreatingWorks Of Art Author:Frederick C. Beiser
“Liberals and leftists are not wrong in describing romanticism as reactionary, because it did indeed become that after 1810. The problem is that they make that description true of the movement as a whole, as if romanticism were essentially reactionary.” IfsWholeProblemMovementDescriptionDescribingRomanticismReactionariesLeftists Author:Frederick C. Beiser
“That Hegel is a metaphysician, and that he thinks metaphysics is fundamental to philosophy, is plain enough from his definition of philosophy.” ThinkingEnoughPhilosophyFundamentalsDefinitionsMetaphysicsHegel Author:Frederick C. Beiser
“In truth a clear-headed physicalist shouldn't be thinking any of these dualist thoughts. If pains are one and the same as C-fibres firing, then there really isn't any possibility of having 'one' without the 'other'. Once you properly appreciates physicalism, this dissociation should cease to appear possible - C-fibres with pains should strike you as no more possible than squares without rectangles.” IfsThinkingShouldPainClearPossibilityAppreciateStrikesCeaseSquaresDissociationFiringRectangles Author:David Papineau
“Since substance is infinite, the universe as a whole, i.e., god, Hegel is telling us that philosophy is knowledge of the infinite, of the universe as a whole, i.e, god. You cannot get more metaphysical than that. I think that Hegel scholars have to admit this basic fact rather than burying their heads in the sand and trying to pretend that Hegel is concerned with conceptual analysis, category theory, normativity or some such contemporary fad.” ThinkingTryingPhilosophyWholeFactsUniverseTheoryConcernedInfiniteContemporarySubstanceAnalysisSandCategoriesScholarMetaphysicalFadsHegelBurying Author:Frederick C. Beiser