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Philosophical Quotes

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Philosophical Quotes

“Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in 'philosophical propositions', but rather in the clarification of propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries.”

Giving Doe Philosophy Body Results Clear Activity Tasks Philosophical Aim Boundaries Doctrine Logical Propositions Cloudy Clarification

Book:Tractatus Logico-philosophicus: The German Text of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung

Source: Tractatus Logico-philosophicus: The German Text of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung

“The process of philosophizing, to my mind, consists mainly in passing from those obvious, vague, ambiguous things, that we feel quite sure of, to something precise, clear, definite, which by reflection and analysis we find is involved in the vague thing that we start from, and is, so to speak, the real truth of which that vague thing is a sort of shadow.”

Feels Mind Real Speak Process Clear Involved Reflection Shadow Philosophical Obvious Passing Passings Analysis Definite Vague Precise Ambiguous Real Truth

Book:Russell's Logical atomism

Source: Russell's Logical atomism

“The entrance into Zen is the grasping of one's essential nature. It is absolutely impossible, however, to come to a clear understanding of our essential nature by any intellectual or philosophical method. It is accomplished only by the experience of self-realization through zazen.”

Self Understanding Nature Clear Impossible Essentials Intellectual Experience Philosophical Method Self Realization Realization Accomplished Entrances Grasping

Book:The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans

Source: The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans

“I am also very excited by the way in which we can see Paul wrestling not only with his Jewish world and its scriptures but also, by clear implication, with philosophical and political issues that were 'out there' at the time. The thing is that for Paul this is all part of the same larger, whole vision of God and God's purposes. Watching how everything comes together is an intellectual treat of the first order - as well as a spiritual and practical challenge to me personally and to the church.”

“Science is a match that man has just got alight. He thought he was in a room - in moments of devotion, a temple - and that his light would be reflected from and display walls inscribed with wonderful secrets and pillars carved with philosophical systems wrought into harmony. It is a curious sensation, now that the preliminary splutter is over and the flame burns up clear, to see his hands and just a glimpse of himself and the patch he stands on visible, and around him, in place of all that human comfort and beauty he anticipated - darkness still.”

Source: The Island of Doctor Moreau

“It started becoming clear to me how one might have views about the nature of mind and of knowledge which are empirically informed. This way of thinking about philosophical theorizing makes sense of how philosophy might be a legitimate intellectual activity, in a way that a good deal of the armchair philosophy, I believe, cannot.”

Thinking Way Mind Believe Philosophy Might I Believe Views Deals Clear Becoming Activity Intellectual Philosophical Make Sense Way Of Thinking Armchairs

Author:Hilary Kornblith

“The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.”

“It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.”

Inspirational Pain Order Pleasure Clear Sacrifice Gains Philosophical

Author:Arthur Schopenhauer

“Knowing you don't have much time left changes things. You get kind of philosophical. And you figure things out-more like, they figure themselves out-and everything gets real clear.”

Kind Real Left Knowing Clear Figures Philosophical Get Real Time Left Beautiful Chaos

Author:Kami Garcia

“Philosophy attempts, not to discover new truths about the world, but to gain a clear view of what we already know and believe about it. That depends upon attaining a more explicit grasp of the structure of our thoughts; and that in turn on discovering how to give a systematic account of the working of language, the medium in which we express our thoughts.”

Knows World Giving Believe Philosophy Turns Language Views Clear Depends Gains Accounts Philosophical Structure Mediums Discovering Our Thoughts Turn-on Systematic Explicit Clear View

Author:Michael Dummett

“[T]here is a methodological bias in favor of taking natural discourse literally, other things being equal. For example, unless there are clear reasons for construing discourse as ambiguous, elliptical, or involving special idioms, we should not so construe it.”

Should Reason Natural Clear Special Example Equal Philosophical Favors Bias Discourse Involving Ambiguous Idiom Being Equal

Author:Tyler Burge