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Philosophy Quotes

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Philosophy Quotes

“Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval.”

Philosophy Able Conviction Rational Hysterical Disapproval

Author:Alain de Botton

“Our conviction that the world is meaningless is due in part to the fact (discussed in a later paragraph) that the philosophy of meaningless lends itself very effectively to furthering the ends of political and erotic passion; in part to a genuine intellectual error - the error of identifying the world of science, a world from which all meaning has deliberately been excluded, with ultimate reality.”

Source: Ends and Means: An Inquiry into the Nature of Ideals

“Those of us whose parenting style can be described as "a series of reflexes, instincts, and minute-by-minute adjustments," as Julie of A Little Pregnant puts it, rather than as a philosophy, are less invested in our own practices. What we do is often less a matter of conviction than one of convenience. What we need to remember is that there is no need to apologize for that, even in the face of the most red-faced outrage.”

Needs Littles Matter Philosophy Remember Faces Practice Minutes Style Red Series Instinct Conviction Pregnant Apologizing Convenience Adjustment Outrage Reflexes Parenting Styles

Author:Ayelet Waldman

“The men who are not interested in philosophy need it most urgently: they are most helplessly in its power. The men who are not interested in philosophy absorb its principles from the cultural atmosphere around them-from schools, colleges, books, magazines, newspapers, movies, television, etc. Who sets the tone of a culture? A small handful of men: the philosophers. Others follow their lead, either by conviction or by default.”

Source: The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

“It requires something more than personal experience to gain a philosophy or point of view from any specific event. It is the quality of our response to the event and our capacity to enter into the lives of others that help us to make their lives and experiences our own. In my own case my convictions have derived and developed from events in the lives of others as well as from my own experience. What I have seen meted out to others by authority and repression, economic and political, transcends anything I myself may have endured.”

Source: Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader

“What is rational is actual and what is actual is rational. On this conviction the plain man like the philosopher takes his stand,and from it philosophy starts in its study of the universe of mind as well as the universe of nature.”

Men Mind Wells Reason Philosophy Reality Universe Study Philosophical Philosopher Conviction Rational Realism

Book:Philosophy of right

Source: Philosophy of right

“The conduct of a man, who studies philosophy in this careless manner, is more truly sceptical than that of any one, who feeling inhimself an inclination to it, is yet so over-whelm'd with doubts and scruples, as totally to reject it. A true sceptic will be diffident of his philosophical doubts, as well as of his philosophical conviction; and will never refuse any innocent satisfaction, which offers itself, upon account of either of them.”

Men Wells Philosophy Feelings Study Doubt Offers Accounts Philosophical Satisfaction Refuse Conviction Innocent Rejects Skepticism Inclination Careless Scruples Sceptic

Book:A Treatise of Human Nature

Source: A Treatise of Human Nature

“A worldview is not the same things a formal philosophy, otherwise it would only be for philosophers. Even ordinary people have a set of convictions about how reality functions and how they should live. Some convictions are conscious while others are unconscious but together they form a consistent picture of reality.”

People Should Philosophy Reality Together Form Ordinary Conscious Function Philosopher Conviction Unconscious Consistent Formal Ordinary People Worldview

Author:Nancy Pearcey