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Determinism Quotes

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Determinism Quotes

“All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with 'winning or losing this game of chess.”

IfsDoeGamesWinningLanguageExistencePiecesAtheismLosingOneselfChessLiberationEtcAmusingDeterminismWin Or LoseExistence Of GodChess Game
Book:Marcel Duchamp, the box in a valise: De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy : inventory of an edition
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“I don't think literature would be possible in a determined world. We might go through the motions but the heart would be out of it. Nobody could then 'smile darkly and ignore the howls.' Even if there were no Church to teach me this, writing two novels would do it. I think the more you write, the less inclined you will be to rely on theories like determinism. Mystery isn't something that is gradually evaporating. It grows along with knowledge.”

IfsThinkingWorldWritingHeartTwoMightWould BeLiteratureGrowsChurchTeachNovelMysteryTheoryDeterminedRelyHowlDeterminism
Author:Flannery O'Connor
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“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”

LifeInspirationalHumansWellsEndsSpiritualForceStarsHuman BeingsDestinyDistanceDeterminedInvisibleMysteriousDustTunesVegetablesCosmicInsectsDeterminismPipers
Author:Albert Einstein
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“For anyone inclined to caricature environmental history as 'environmental determinism,' the contrasting histories of the Dominican Republic and Haiti provide a useful antidote. Yes, environmental problems do constrain human societies, but the societies' responses also make a difference.”

HumansProblemDifferencesResponseEnvironmentalMaking A DifferenceRepublicCollapseAntidoteHuman SocietyHaitiCaricaturesDeterminismConstrainEnvironmental ProblemsEnvironmental HistoryDominican Republic
Book:Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition
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“Science is unflinchingly deterministic, and it has begun to force its determinism into morals. On some shining tomorrow a psychoanalyst may be put into the box to prove that perjury is simply a compulsion neurosis, like beating time with the foot at a concert or counting the lampposts along the highway.”

MayForceMoralFeetTomorrowProveShiningBoxesFree WillConcertsHighwaysCompulsionCountingNeurosisDeterminismPerjury
Book:Prejudices Fourth Series
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“The metaphysical doctrine of determinism simply asserts that all events in this world are fixed, or unalterable, or predetermined. It does not assert that they are known to anybody, or predictable by scientific means. But it asserts that the future is as little changeable as is the past. Everybody knows what we mean when we say that the past cannot be changed. It is in precisely the same sense that the future cannot be changed, according to metaphysical determinism.”

KnowsWorldMeanLittlesDoePastScienceKnownEventsThis WorldChangedFutureDoctrineFixedFree WillMetaphysicalPredictableDeterminismPredetermined
Author:Karl Popper
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“Biological determinism is, in its essence, a theory of limits. It takes the current status of groups as a measure of where they should and must be ... We inhabit a world of human differences and predilections, but the extrapolation of these facts to theories of rigid limits is ideology.”

WorldShouldHumansFactsScienceDifferencesGroupsTheoryLimitsEssenceCurrentsIdeologyBiologyDeterminism
Book:The Mismeasure of Man (Revised & Expanded)
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“The great paradox of determinism and free will, which has held the attention of the wisest of philosophers and psychologists for generations, can be phrased in more biological terms as follows: If our genes are inherited, and our environment is a train of physical events set in motion before we were born, how can there be a truly independent agent within the brain? The agent itself is created by the interaction of the genes and the environment. It would appear that our freedom is only a self delusion.”

IfsSelfTermBornAttentionBrainEnvironmentGenerationsEventsEvolutionIndependentTrainPhilosopherAgentsDelusionParadoxFree WillGenesInteractionOur EnvironmentPsychologistWisestDeterminismSelf Delusion
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“... what we should be looking for is fresh ideas of how we make moral decisions about our dealings with one another, economic, social, cultural. Economic determinism is an objectionable creed where men and women espouse it in its communist or capitalist form because it treats human beings as economic units and not as responsible persons.”

MenShouldHumansPersonsIdeasFormSocialLeadershipHuman BeingsDecisionBusinessMoralEconomicMen And WomenEconomicsTreatsResponsibleCommunistCapitalistCreedsUnitsDeterminismDealingsFresh IdeasMoral DecisionsResponsible Person
Author:Davis McCaughey
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“Determinism is the thesis that is true at every moment that the way things then are determines a unique future, that only one of the alternative futures that may exist relative to a given moment is a physically possible continuation of the state of things at the moment. Or, if you like, we may say that determinism is the thesis that only one continuation of the state of things at a given moment is consistent with the laws of nature.”

IfsWayMayStatesMomentsLawGivenUniqueDetermineAlternativesConsistentRelativeLaws Of NatureDeterminismContinuationThesis
Book:Metaphysics
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“"We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable" in a draft of the Declaration of Independence changes it instead into an assertion of rationality. The scientific mind of Franklin drew on the scientific determinism of Isaac Newton and the analytic empiricism of David Hume and Gottfried Leibniz. In what became known as "Hume's Fork" the latters' theory distinguished between synthetic truths that describe matters of fact, and analytic truths that are self-evident by virtue of reason and definition.”

MindSelfMatterReasonFactsKnownVirtueTheoryIndependenceSacredDefinitionsEvidentDeclarationRationalityDistinguishedNewtonAssertionMatter Of FactFranklinForksDeclaration Of IndependenceDeterminismAnalyticsIsaacSyntheticEmpiricismHume
Author:Benjamin Franklin
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“Thus far we have considered the problem of conservation of land purely as an economic issue. A false front of exclusively economic determinism is so habitual to Americans in discussing public questions that one must speak in the language of compound interest to get a hearing.”

ProblemSpeakLanguageInterestIssuesEconomicLandFrontsRiversEnvironmentalHearingConservationCompoundsDiscussingHabitualDeterminismEconomic IssuesCompound Interest
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
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“The spirit of Christmas lives with us. We are the protectors of the real tradition of Christmas-peace on Earth and Goodwill to all. We are the hope of Man-the only hope. Mankind's salvation lies within our hands. With our tech and ability we can create here on Earth a real heaven where men can be free. In our hands lies the power to restore to Man his determinism and all that he finds good in himself-his honesty, his integrity, and the thrill of being of real help to others. A very Merry Christmas to you all and a bright friendly new year.”

MenYearsRealHelpingHandsEarthSpiritLyingHeavenAbilityMankindHonestyIntegrityTraditionSalvationFriendlyNew YearThrillPeace On EarthMerryGoodwillDeterminismProtectorChristmas SpiritMerry ChristmasChristmas Peace
Author:L. Ron Hubbard
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“Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.”

LoveLifeInspirationalGodScienceReligionMoralityHighestImportanceAtheistMotherhoodInsightfulAgnosticRelativityDeterminismReligion GodKnowledge Of GodCausalityMorality And ReligionEthics And Morals
Book:Bite-Size Einstein: Quotations on Just About Everything from the Greatest Mind of the Twentieth Century
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“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.”

MenLoveInspirationalCharacterMotivationalHappinessSuccessFamilyCourageFiveMinutesGreatnessHeroOrdinaryBraveryBraveIdolsHeroismBe BraveFive MinutesHave CourageMy HeroBrave ManDeterminismOrdinary ManFear And CourageFear CourageBravery And CourageGreat PatrioticInspirational CourageBravery And FearBeing A HeroMemorial Day HeroesAction HeroesGreat HeroHeroes DayGood Hero
Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“I do not ... reject the use of statistics in medicine, but I condemn not trying to get beyond them and believing in statistics as the foundation of medical science. ... Statistics ... apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still [uncertain or] indeterminate. ... There will always be some indeterminism ... in all the sciences, and more in medicine than in any other. But man's intellectual conquest consists in lessening and driving back indeterminism in proportion as he gains ground for determinism by the help of the experimental method.”

MenTryingBelieveStillsFactsHelpingUseScienceCausesCasesIntellectualGainsMethodFoundationMedicineIntellectMedicalDrivingObservationProportionRejectsStatisticsUncertainConquestDeterminismMedical Science
Author:Claude Bernard
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