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Philosophical Quotes

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Philosophical Quotes

“In philosophy, the principles are more interesting than the examples. In literature, the examples are more interesting than the principles.”

Philosophy Literature Interesting Principles Example Philosophical

Author:Mason Cooley

“Where philosophy ends, poetry must commence. There should not be a common point of view, a natural manner of thinking which standsin contrast to art and liberal education, or mere living; that is, one should not conceive of a realm of crudeness beyond the boundaries of education. Every conscious link of an organism should not perceive its limits without a feeling for its unity in relation to the whole. For example, philosophy should not only be contrasted to non-philosophy, but also to poetry.”

“Some of the big philosophical problems have been solved by science, at least to a 1st approximation. Examples: the problems of matter, and mind. Only philosophical reactionaries, like Noam Chomsky, claim that they are and will remain mysteries.”

Mind Has Beens Matter Problem Bigs Mystery Example Claims Philosophical Reactionaries Approximation

Author:Mario Bunge

“From my example learn to be just, and not to despise the gods.”

Example Philosophical Despise

Author:Virgil

“All literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation, which would all lie unseen in darkness without the light of literature.”

Light Lying Literature Voice Darkness Example Philosophical Imitation Unseen Antiquity

Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Before the 3rd century you're having several philosophical schools still as a going concern. You have not only the Platonists and the Aristotelians but you have Scepticism, you have Stoicism, you even have a little bit of Epicureanism. And what happens after Plotinus is that everybody becomes a Neo-Platonist. So if we then go forward to the Islamic world for example, Plotinus is immensely influential, and Neo-Platonism becomes at least one major component of mainstream Islamic philosophy as well.”

“The assumption that animals are without rights, and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance, is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.”

Source: 101 Facts of life

“In it he proves that all things are true and states how the truths of all contradictions may be reconciled physically, such as for example that white is black and black is white; that one can be and not be at the same time; that there can be hills without valleys; that nothingness is something and that everything, which is, is not. But take note that he proves all these unheard-of paradoxes without any fallacious or sophistical reasoning.”

May States Black White Example Prove All Things Philosophical Notes Hills Reasoning Contradiction Paradox Valleys Nothingness Unheard

Author:Cyrano de Bergerac

“A main cause of philosophical disease-an unbalanced diet: one nourishes one's thinking with only one kind of example.”

Thinking Kind Causes Example Disease Philosophical Diets Unbalanced

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Reason is universal because no attempted challenge to its results can avoid appealing to reason in the end-by claiming, for example, that what was presented as an argument is really a rationalization. This can undermine our confidence in the original method or practice only by giving us reasons to believe something else, so that finally we have to think about the arguments to make up our minds.”

Thinking Giving Mind Believe Ends Reason Challenges Results Practice Example Argument Universal Philosophical Originals Method

Book:Other Minds: Critical Essays 1969-1994

Source: Other Minds: Critical Essays 1969-1994

“Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.”

People Leadership Virtue Example Philosophical Affair

Book:Confucian Analects, The Great Learning & The Doctrine of the Mean

Source: Confucian Analects, The Great Learning & The Doctrine of the Mean

“[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

“Our tools are extensions of our purposes, and so we find it natural to make metaphorical attributions of intentionality to them; but I take it no philosophical ice is cut by such examples.”

Purpose Natural Cutting Example Tools Philosophical Ice Extensions Metaphorical Intentionality Attribution

Author:John Searle

“Have you ever seen a demonstrable example of equality in your entire life? Can it be glimpsed in any dog show or classroom? In any ping pong game or chess match? Of course not. It is a philosophical abstraction, something nowhere to be found in nature.”

Shows Courses Found Games Dog Example Philosophical Chess Classroom Abstraction Ping Ping Pong Chess Match

Author:Boyd Rice

“Examples one finds in the philosophical literature are somebody who's seen the trial of a child of theirs, where they're being proved guilty of some crime that would drive the parent into a depression, maybe a suicidal depression.”

Children Literature Parent Crime Example Philosophical Suicide Trials Guilty Suicidal

Author:Robert Nozick