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Fundamentals Quotes

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Fundamentals Quotes

“Three principles - the conformability of nature to herself, the applicability of the criterion of simplicity, and the utility of certain parts of mathematics in describing physical reality - are thus consequences of the underlying law of the elementary particles and their interactions. Those three principles need not be assumed as separate metaphysical postulates. Instead, they are emergent properties of the fundamental laws of physics.”

“It is one of the strange facts of experience that when we try to think about the future, our thoughts jump backwards. It may well be that nature has some fundamental metaphysical law by which opening up what we call the future also opens up the past in equal degree.”

Thinking Trying Wells May Facts Past Law Strange Equal Degrees Fundamentals Opening Our Thoughts Backwards Metaphysical Opening Up

Book:Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking

Source: Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking

“A certain kind of methodologically-minded philosopher of science is quick to read off metaphysical conclusions from features of scientific practice. Chemists don't derive their laws from fundamental physics, so reductive physicalism must be false. Biologists refer to natural numbers in some of their explanations, so numbers must exist. I think that this kind of thing makes for bad philosophy.”

Thinking Kind Philosophy Law Certain Natural Numbers Practice Fundamentals Philosopher Physics Conclusion Features Explanation Metaphysical Biologist Chemist

Author:David Papineau

“I argue, based on metaphysical and physical considerations, that we should think of the fundamental parts of the world as a mix of intrinsic natures, rather like a paint-pot filled with a rainbow of colors, loosely mixed to give a richly varied, spatiotemporally inseparable, spread of qualities, and that this mixture is what gives rise to ordinary reality.”

Thinking World Giving Should Reality Quality Color Ordinary Fundamentals Filled Paint Spread Arguing Consideration Pot Rainbow Metaphysical Mixtures Inseparable

Author:L.A. Paul

“[Regarding] the soul, I'm a little wary of any discourse on that topic that pretends to have an answer, so I tend to keep my musings to myself. There is interesting, legitimate metaphysical work on the topic going at least as far back as Leibniz and continuing today, following the theme that consciousness, or at least computation, might be at least as fundamental as phenomena such as space, time, energy, and matter, which are the usual subject matter of physics. I follow that sort of thing with interest but with very modest expectations that answers will be arrived at during my lifetime.”

“Here's an example: someone says, "Master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "Please give me the other end," he says. And the master replies, "What would you do with the other end?" This is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical. When the question is, "Master, what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" Then he replies, "There is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." That is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. The mundane and the sacred are one and the same.”

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Book:What is Zen?

Source: What is Zen?

“Really, the fundamental, ultimate mystery -- the only thing you need to know to understand the deepest metaphysical secrets -- is this: that for every outside there is an inside and for every inside there is an outside, and although they are different, they go together.”

Knows Needs Different Together Secret Mystery Ultimate Fundamentals Metaphysical

Book:The Tao of Philosophy

Source: The Tao of Philosophy

“I have at this moment so many fundamental thoughts, so many truly metaphysical things to say, that I suddenly get tired and decide not to write any more, not to think any more, but to allow the fever of speaking to make me sleepy, and with my eyes closed, like a cat, I play with everything I could have said.”

Thinking Writing Said Play Moments Eye Cat Fundamentals Tired Metaphysical Fever Sleepy

Author:Fernando Pessoa

“...the scientific attitude implies what I call the postulate of objectivity-that is to say, the fundamental postulate that there is no plan, that there is no intention in the universe. Now, this is basically incompatible with virtually all the religious or metaphysical systems whatever, all of which try to show that there is some sort of harmony between man and the universe and that man is a product-predictable if not indispensable-of the evolution of the universe.”

Ifs Men Trying Shows Science Universe Religious Attitude Plans Products Evolution Harmony Fundamentals Intention Indispensable Metaphysical Objectivity Predictable

Author:Jacques Monod

“Football is not a game but a religion, a metaphysical island of fundamental truth in a highly verbalized, disguised society, a throwback of 30,000 generations of anthropological time.”

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Author:Arnold J. Mandell

“By what he chooses to present and by how he presents it, any author expresses his fundamental, metaphysical values.”

Writing Values Creative Fundamentals Metaphysical Creative Writing

Book:The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers

Source: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers