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Quote by Philip Kitcher

“I rather stumbled into philosophy. When I began my undergraduate career at Cambridge, I studied mathematics.”

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Philip Kitcher, born on February 20, 1947, is a philosopher, writer, and academic. His research interests are primarily in the fields of philosophy of science, epistemology, and moral philosophy. more

“After two years of undergraduate study, it was clear that I was bored by the regime of problem-solving required by the Cambridge mathematical tripos. A very sensitive mathematics don recommended that I talk to the historian of astronomy, Michael Hoskin, and the conversation led me to enroll in the History and Philosophy of Science for my final undergraduate year.”

“I was occupied by a range of questions, often different from those fashionable in the professional philosophy of the past half century, that have sometimes troubled philosophers in the past. It's taken me several decades to work out my own philosophical agenda, and it is wide.”

Different Sometimes Philosophy Past My Own Half Taken Century Philosophical Philosopher Work Out Wide Decades Range Agendas Fashionable

Author:Philip Kitcher

“I have enormous respect for Derek Parfit, although he seems to me bound within an unfortunate philosophical tradition - rather like the extraordinarily brilliant exponents of Ptolemaic astronomy in the Middle Ages.”

Seems Age Middle Tradition Philosophical Bounds Brilliant Astronomy Enormous Unfortunate Middle Ages Exponents

Author:Philip Kitcher

“I don't think that anything of any consequence is known a priori: all our knowledge is built up by modifying the lore passed on to us by our ancestors in light of our experiences, and the best a philosopher can do is to learn as much about what has been discovered in various empirical fields, and use it to try to craft an improved synthesis.”

Thinking Trying Has Beens Use Light Can Do Known Fields Consequence Built Philosopher Various Crafts Ancestor Synthesis Modifying

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Experiments work when, and only when, they call into action cognitive capacities that might reliably deliver the conclusions drawn.”

Might Action Capacity Experiments Conclusion Cognitive

Author:Philip Kitcher

“For a pragmatist like me, the important issues concern the words we might deploy to achieve our purposes, rather than the language we actually use.”

Important Use Might Purpose Language Issues Achieve Concern Like Me Important Issues Pragmatists

Author:Philip Kitcher

“If the intuition-mongering were abandoned, would that be the end of philosophy? It would be the end of a certain style of philosophy - a style that has cut philosophy off, not only from the humanities but from every other branch of inquiry and culture.”

Ifs Ends Philosophy Would Be Certain Humanity Culture Cutting Style Intuition Branches Abandoned Inquiry

Author:Philip Kitcher

“In my view, we ought to replace the notion of analytic philosophy by that of synthetic philosophy.”

Philosophy Views Ought Notion Analytics Synthetic

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Philosophers ought to aspire to know lots of different things and to forge useful synthetic perspectives.”

Knows Different Perspective Ought Philosopher Different Things Aspire Synthetic

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.”

Humans Book Would Be Goal Cases Produce Aim Ethical Motivated Improving Inquiry

Author:Philip Kitcher

Quote by Philip Kitcher

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