“As a philosopher, you define constraints for any good theory explaining what you are interested in, then you go out and search for help in other disciplines.” HelpingTheoryDisciplinePhilosopherExplainingConstraints Author:Thomas Metzinger
“One of the interesting characteristics of the Ego Tunnel is that it creates (as Finnish philosopher Antti Revonsuo called it) a robust "out-of-the brain experience", a highly realistic experience of not operating on internal models, but of effortlessly being in direct and immediate contact with the external world - and oneself.” WorldInterestingBrainEgoModelsDirectOneselfPhilosopherContactCharacteristicsInternalsRealisticTunnelsRobustFinnish Author:Thomas Metzinger
“I intend Deaths in Venice to contribute both to literary criticism and to philosophy. But it's not "strict philosophy" in the sense of arguing for specific theses. As I remark, there's a style of philosophy - present in writers from Plato to Rawls - that invites readers to consider a certain class of phenomena in a new way. In the book, I associate this, in particular, with my good friend, the eminent philosopher of science, Nancy Cartwright, who practices it extremely skilfully.” WayBookPhilosophyCertainClassPracticeStyleParticularReaderCriticismPhilosopherArguingInvitesNew WaysGood FriendStrictAssociatesPlatoRemarksVeniceThesisNancyLiterary CriticismDeath In Venice Author:Philip Kitcher
“Mann was profoundly influenced by two philosophers, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, who returned to the most ancient of all philosophical questions - "How to live?" - and whose writings offered novel perspectives for considering that question (much more perspective-offering than rigorous argument!)” WritingTwoNovelPerspectiveArgumentPhilosophicalAncientPhilosopherOfferingConsideringPhilosophical Questions Author:Philip Kitcher
“Most influential of all is the philosopher Stanley Cavell, and a younger generation of philosophers who have attempted to follow his pioneering work in thinking about literature philosophically.” ThinkingLiteratureGenerationsPhilosopherInfluentialStanleyYounger GenerationPioneering Author:Philip Kitcher
“So this is my attempt to give a preliminary - probably far too crude - account of how philosophy by showing can really teach us. The attempts we make to work through problems by reasoning always presuppose starting points, and even the most self-critical philosophers adopt some of those starting points simply by picking them up from the social environments in which they grow up.” GivingSelfPhilosophyProblemSocialGrowsTeachGrowing UpEnvironmentAccountsStartingPhilosopherCriticalReasoningCrudeStarting PointSocial Environment Author:Philip Kitcher
“There are actually two separate issues here. The first is whether (as ancient philosophers and Nietzsche assume) only the privileged elite can live a worthwhile life. The second is whether it's possible to fulfill the roles of both serious artist and upstanding citizen. It seems to me that philosophy can dissect both questions, by delineating clearly the anatomy of the good life and the structural conditions of the roles.” FirstsTwoPhilosophySeemsArtistRolesIssuesConditionsSeriousCitizensAssumingAncientPhilosopherGood LifeWorthwhileElitesPrivilegedAnatomy Author:Philip Kitcher
“The kind of approach I take is different from much of experimental philosophy. Although the experimental philosophers and I are certainly in agreement about the relevance of empirical work to philosophy, a good deal of their work is devoted to understanding features of our folk concepts, and in this respect, at least, I see them as making the same mistake as those armchair philosophers who are interested in conceptual analysis.” KindDifferentPhilosophyUnderstandingDealsMistakeApproachConceptsFolksPhilosopherFeaturesAnalysisAgreementDevotedRelevanceSame MistakesArmchairsMaking The Same Mistakes Author:Hilary Kornblith
“The experimentalists think that we can only get at our concepts by way of empirical investigation, while the armchair philosophers think that we can skip the experiments and figure things out from our armchairs. What they have in common, however, is regarding our concepts as the targets of philosophical theorising, and I just don't think that, in the vast majority of cases, the subject matter of philosophy has our concepts as its target.” ThinkingWayMatterPhilosophyCommonCasesSubjectsFiguresConceptsPhilosophicalMajorityPhilosopherExperimentsTargetInvestigationSubject MatterSkipArmchairs Author:Hilary Kornblith
“Epistemologists should be concerned with knowledge and justification and so on, not our concepts of them; philosophers of mind should be concerned with various features of our mental life and the large-scale structure of the mind, not our concepts of mind, or consciousness, or anything else” ShouldMindConsciousnessConceptsConcernedStructurePhilosopherVariousScalesFeaturesJustificationLarge Scale Author:Hilary Kornblith
“The great philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries did not think that epistemological questions floated free of questions about how the mind works. Those philosophers took a stand on all sorts of questions which nowadays we would classify as questions of psychology, and their views about psychological questions shaped their views about epistemology, as well they should have.” ThinkingShouldMindWellsViewsPsychologyCenturyShould HavePhilosopherPsychologicalEpistemology18th CenturyGreat Philosophers Author:Hilary Kornblith
“17th century philosophers were not in a position to understand the mind as well as we can today, since the advent of experimental methods in psychology. It shows no disrespect for the brilliance of Descartes or Kant to acknowledge that the psychology which they worked with was primitive by comparison with what is available today in the cognitive sciences, any more than it shows disrespect for the brilliance of Aristotle to acknowledge that the physics he worked with does not compare with that of Newton or Einstein.” MindWellsDoeShowsTodayPsychologyCenturyPositionMethodPhilosopherAvailablePhysicsCompareAcknowledgeComparisonPrimitiveBrillianceNewtonDisrespectCognitiveAdventCognitive Science17th Century Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I largely defer to the cognitive ethologists. I believe that the arguments that they make on this score are extremely persuasive. More than this, I do think as well that a priori objections by philosophers to successful research programs in the sciences have a very bad track record.” ThinkingBelieveWellsI BelieveSuccessfulRecordsResearchProgramArgumentTrackPhilosopherScoreObjectionsCognitivePersuasiveTrack Record Author:Hilary Kornblith
“The fact that these scientific theories have a fine track record of successful prediction and explanation speaks for itself. (Which is not to say that I don't directly discuss the work of those philosophers who would disagree.) But even if we grant this, many will argue that scientific knowledge in humans, and, indeed, reflective knowledge in general, is quite different in kind from the knowledge we see in other animals.” IfsHumansKindDifferentFactsSpeakAnimalSuccessfulRecordsTheoryFineTrackPhilosopherArguingExplanationGrantsDisagreePredictionsScientific KnowledgeScientific TheoryTrack Record Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I argue is that philosophers have had a tendency to present a kind of mystical view of the powers of reflection. Unreflective belief acquisition is seen in mechanistic terms, but when philosophers talk about reflection, it is as if reflective processes are not bound by the kinds of limitations which inevitably arise from being embedded within the same causal structure which governs unreflective belief acquisition.” IfsKindBeliefProcessTermViewsReflectionStructureBoundsPhilosopherArguingAriseTendenciesLimitationMysticalAcquisitionEmbedded Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I do realise that talk of natural kinds dates back to Aristotle, but I'd better not say too much about ancient philosophers lest I be convicted of practicing history of philosophy without a license.” KindPhilosophyNaturalToo MuchAncientPhilosopherRealisingLicense Author:Hilary Kornblith
“For one thing, I think that there are questions which philosophers raise which, although science bears on them, are not typically the central focus of those who work in the sciences. At the same time, I don't have a view of philosophy which marks it out as different in kind from scientific work” ThinkingKindDifferentPhilosophyViewsFocusOne ThingBearsMarkRaisesPhilosopher Author:Hilary Kornblith
“When I think about discussions at the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, a group which includes not only philosophers and psychologists, but also computer scientists and linguists, it is noteworthy that one can't always tell just from the content of particular contributions from the audience, whether a given questioner is a philosopher or an empirical scientist.” ThinkingPhilosophyGivenAudiencePsychologyGroupsParticularComputerScientistPhilosopherDiscussionContributionPsychologistLinguists Author:Hilary Kornblith
“It's not just that there is a cooperative spirit of investigation there, where we all recognise that we are engaged in a common project of inquiry. It's also that the philosophers are well-versed in the relevant empirical data, and the scientists are well-versed in the more abstract issues which are typically the central focus of philosophical work.” WellsSpiritCommonIssuesFocusProjectsScientistPhilosophicalPhilosopherDataEngagedAbstractRelevantInvestigationInquiryRecogniseCooperatives Author:Hilary Kornblith
“There has certainly been a great deal of work addressing the relationship between naturalism and the first-person perspective. Quite a number of philosophers have suggested that there are features of the first-person perspective that naturalism just cannot accommodate, whether it be qualitative character, or consciousness, or simply the ability we have to think of ourselves in a distinctively first-person manner.” ThinkingFirstsPersonsCharacterAbilityDealsNumbersConsciousnessPerspectivePhilosopherFeaturesFirst PersonAccommodateNaturalismQualitative Author:Hilary Kornblith
“In my view, philosophers have shown a great deal more respect for the first-person point of view than it deserves. There's a lot of empirical work on the various psychological mechanisms by way of which the first-person point of view is produced, and, when we understand this, I believe, we can stop romanticising and mythologising the first-person perspective.” WayFirstsBelievePersonsI BelieveViewsDealsPerspectiveDeservePhilosopherVariousPoint Of ViewPsychologicalMechanismFirst PersonThis I Believe Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I decided to do philosophy at university, with a view to becoming a professional philosopher. Being a rather unstable character, at some points I had doubts about becoming a professional philosopher, but the example of two of my teachers, Ezequiel de Olaso and Juan Rodriguez Larreta, made me confirm my original decision.” MadeTwoPhilosophyCharacterDecisionViewsDoubtTeacherExampleBecomingDecidedOriginalsUniversityPhilosopherUnstableJuan Author:Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra
“The huge majority of philosophers seem to think that including impure properties in the range of the quantifiers of the principle would make the principle trivial. I have argued that it does not.” ThinkingDoeSeemsPrinciplesHugeMajorityPropertyIncludingPhilosopherRange Author:Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra
“I like the idea of being a postmodern moral philosopher - or perhaps a perverse moral philosopher.” IdeasMoralPhilosopherPostmodern Author:Richard Marshall
“I just realized, sometime early on in college, that I wanted to be a philosopher. I basically decided that I wanted to spend my life thinking as deeply and carefully and reflectively as I could about the nature of reality and our human engagement with it, and that taking a philosophical approach was the best way to go about doing this.” ThinkingWayHumansRealityWantedCollegeApproachDecidedPhilosophicalPhilosopherBest WayEngagementJust Realized Author:L.A. Paul
“We should listen to both philosophers and scientists, because the philosophical contribution is different from the scientific contribution, and both of them are worthwhile.” ShouldDifferentScientistPhilosophicalPhilosopherContributionWorthwhile Author:L.A. Paul
“Philosophers, especially metaphysicians, explore features of reality and of our mental life that are different from those explored by scientists.” DifferentRealityScientistPhilosopherFeatures Author:L.A. Paul
“I do think that metaphysical exploration is like scientific exploration, in the sense that philosophers and scientists are both developing models of reality, and furthermore that we all rely to a significant extent on the idea that models which provide elegant, simple and satisfying explanations are more likely to be true.” ThinkingIdeasRealitySimpleModelsScientistPhilosopherSignificantBeing TrueDevelopingExplanationRelyExplorationSatisfyingMetaphysicalElegant Author:L.A. Paul
“While I do not agree with all of the claims made by experimental philosophers, especially those who seem to think xphi will somehow replace the rest of philosophy, I think xphi projects are interesting and important, I love Josh Knobe's work, and that these projects contribute something new and worthwhile to the philosophical conversation.” ThinkingMadeImportantPhilosophySeemsInterestingConversationProjectsClaimsPhilosophicalAgreePhilosopherSomething NewWorthwhileJosh Author:L.A. Paul
“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.” DifferentSometimesPhilosophyPastMy OwnHalfTakenCenturyPhilosophicalPhilosopherWork OutWideDecadesRangeAgendasFashionable 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.” ThinkingTryingHas BeensUseLightCan DoKnownFieldsConsequenceBuiltPhilosopherVariousCraftsAncestorSynthesisModifying Author:Philip Kitcher
“Philosophers ought to aspire to know lots of different things and to forge useful synthetic perspectives.” KnowsDifferentPerspectiveOughtPhilosopherDifferent ThingsAspireSynthetic Author:Philip Kitcher
“I have a general moral: great philosophers may be great, but that is not a reason to follow them. Don't be a follower. Work it out for yourself.” MayReasonMoralPhilosopherWorking ItFollowersGreat Philosophers Author:Tim Crane
“One of the reasons why architects are often attracted to philosophers, partially, has to do with making sense of the world around us as well as the making of worlds.” WorldWellsReasonPhilosopherMake SenseReason WhyArchitect Author:Jimenez Lai
“In the infancy of civilization, when our island was as savage as New Guinea, when letters and arts were still unknown to Athens, when scarcely a thatched roofed hut stood on what was later the site of Rome, this contemned people had their fenced cities and cedar palaces, their splendid Temple, their fleets of merchant ships, their schools of sacred learning, their great statesmen and soldiers, their natural philosophers, their historians and their poets.” PeopleArtStillsSchoolNaturalCitiesPoetCivilizationLettersSacredSoldierPhilosopherJewShipsIslandsTemplesHistorianRomeSavagesSitePalacesSplendidStatesmenMerchantsInfancyAthensHutsGuineaCedars Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
“Fuzzy thinking is, after all, just one step above not thinking at all. But to take the ideas of serious transformational thinkers and philosophers and throw the "new age" label at them is also abhorrent.” ThinkingIdeasAgeStepsSeriousPhilosopherLabelsJust OneThinkerNew AgeFuzzyAbhorrent Author:Marianne Williamson
“This concept that you refer to in Buddhism is something I've been nurtured with through the history of my country for 700, 800 years - Persian poets and philosophers haven't said anything different with regard to experiencing life in the moment, as opposed to the belief of permanence.” YearsSaidDifferentCountryMomentsBeliefHavensPoetBuddhismConceptsRegardPhilosopherPermanencePersian Author:Abbas Kiarostami
“I have said my philosophy - I'm a backyard philosopher, I guess - is that the dirtiest word in the English language is "retirement."” SaidPhilosophyLanguagePhilosopherRetirementEnglish LanguageBackyards Author:Frank Sinatra, Jr.
“As the Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe has presciently pointed out, neoliberal corporate globalism threatens to exploit that advantage like never before, and it seems set to turn vast swathes of humanity into "the Negros of a new racism."” SeemsHumanityTurnsRacismAdvantagePhilosopherCorporateExploitsAchillesGlobalism Author:Andre Naffis-Sahely
“I love Osho. I don't know if you would call him a philosopher; I would just call him a really cool dude. Osho really changed my life. Because the way that he spoke about emotion and the male and female energies in the world and how people react to the world around them, it's so simple, yet it has such a depth.” PeopleIfsKnowsWorldWayEnergySimpleEmotionChangedFemaleDepthMalesPhilosopherSpokesReally CoolChanged My Life Author:Willow Smith
“All philosophers make the common mistake of taking contemporary man as their starting point and of trying, through an analysis of him, to[21] reach a conclusion. "Man" involuntarily presents himself to them as an aeterna veritas as a passive element in every hurly-burly, as a fixed standard of things. Yet everything uttered by the philosopher on the subject of man is, in the last resort, nothing more than a piece of testimony concerning man during a very limited period of time.” MenTryingLastsCommonMistakePiecesSubjectsPeriodsElementsStandardsStartingPhilosopherContemporaryConclusionAnalysisFixedPassiveTestimonyResortsStarting Point Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“I guess you could say Alexander the Great was a man who completely transported me and moved me and inspired me because of his idealism, and I'd go back to the Greeks, and I always liked Homer and all the philosophers and their way of thinking and their concept of honor. I think their concept of honor does apply to the modern age, and certain people that walk around are pre-Christian.” PeopleThinkingMenWayDoeAgeChristianCertainWalksModernHonorConceptsMovedInspiredPhilosopherGreekIdealismWay Of ThinkingModern Age Author:Oliver Stone
“There is no art or science that is too difficult for industry to attain to; it is the gift of tongues, and makes a man understood and valued in all countries, and by all nations; it is the philosopher's stone, that turns all metals, and even stones, into gold, and suffers not want to break into its dwelling; it is the northwest passage, that brings the merchant's ships as soon to him as he can desire: in a word, it conquers all enemies, and makes fortune itself pay contribution.” MenWantArtCountryScienceDesireSufferingTurnsNationsDifficultUnderstandingPayEnemyBreakIndustryUnderstoodStonesGoldFortunePhilosopherTongueShipsConquerContributionPassagesMetalsDwellingMerchants Author:Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
“It is easy for men to write and talk like philosophers, but to act with wisdom, there is the rub!” MenWritingCharacterEasyPhilosopher Author:Antoine Rivarol
“Liberalism is a creation of the seventeenth century, fathered by British philosopher John Locke (1632-1704). For Locke, liberalism means limited government, the rule of law, due process, liberty, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, separation of church and state, and separation of government powers into branches that oversee each other's authority.” MeanStatesGovernmentLawProcessChurchLibertyCenturyCreationSpeechAuthorityPressesPhilosopherBritishDuesSeparationBranchesLiberalismFreedom Of SpeechChurch And StateAssemblyRule Of LawSeparation Of Church And StateLimited GovernmentFreedom Of The PressFreedom Of ReligionDue ProcessFreedom Of Assembly Book:A Manual for Creating Atheists Source: A Manual for Creating Atheists
“With Ameen Rihani the matter is diametrically opposite to Alois Musil's Arabian Desert, in purpose, in point of view and, above all, in personal psychology... I have considerable admiration for Mr. Rihani as a writer, an authentic poet and a philosopher.” MatterPurposeViewsPsychologyPoetOppositesPhilosopherPoint Of ViewDesertAdmirationArabian Author:William Seabrook
“The finest imagination in the world could not have conceived of a better idea than the philosophers' stone to inspire the minds and faculties of men. Without it, chemistry would not be what it is today. In order to discover that no such thing as the philosopher's stone existed, it was necessary to ransack and analyze every substance known on earth. And in precisely this lay its miraculous influence.” MenWorldMindIdeasTodayEarthOrderImaginationKnownInfluenceInspireStonesLaysPhilosopherSubstanceFacultyChemistryFinestMiraculous Author:Justus von Liebig
“The contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge their merit upon the injustice of fortune, by despising the very goods of which fortune had deprived them; it was a secret to guard themselves against the degradation of poverty, it was a back way by which to arrive at that distinction which they could not gain by riches.” WayDesireSecretPovertyGainsFortuneInjusticeVery GoodPhilosopherRichesMeritDistinctionGoodsContemptDeprivedDegradation Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“Philosophers need not much use the word 'intuition' or the concept of intuition, except when they happen to be working on the epistemology of the a priori.” NeedsUseHappensConceptsPhilosopherIntuitionEpistemology Author:Ernest Sosa