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Philosophy Quotes

Browse 18200 quotes about Philosophy.

Philosophy Quotes

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

“The purpose of a moral philosophy is not to look delightfully strange and counterintuitive or to provide employment to bioethicists. The purpose is to guide our choices toward life, health, beauty, happiness, fun, laughter, challenge, and learning.”

Looks Philosophy Purpose Choices Fun Challenges Moral Strange Laughter Guides Employment Our Choices Moral Philosophy Health Beauty Beauty Happiness

Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky

“The Interpretation of the Laws of Nature in a Common-wealth, dependeth not on the books of Moral Philosophy. The Authority of writers, without the Authority of the Commonwealth, maketh not their opinions Law, be they never so true.”

Book Philosophy Law Wealth Common Moral Opinion Authority Interpretation Laws Of Nature Commonwealth Moral Philosophy

Author:Thomas Hobbes

“One of the most destructive anti-concepts in the history of moral philosophy is the term 'duty.”

Philosophy Term Moral Duty Concepts Destructive Moral Philosophy

Book:Philosophy: Who Needs It

Source: Philosophy: Who Needs It

“Neither party has God on its side, a monopoly on good ideas, or a lock on any single fiscal, social, or moral philosophy.”

Ideas Philosophy Social Sides Party Moral Good Ideas Locks Monopoly Moral Philosophy

Author:Michael Bloomberg

“Nothing, indeed, could be more unlike the tone of the [Patristic] Fathers, than the cold, passionless, and prudential theology of the eighteenth century; a theology which regarded Christianity as an admirable auxiliary to the police force, and a principle of decorum and of cohesion in society, but which carefully banished from it all enthusiasm, veiled or attenuated all its mysteries, and virtually reduced it to an authoritative system of moral philosophy.”

“Over the centuries, we've moved on from Scripture to accumulate precepts of ethical, legal and moral philosophy. We've evolved a liberal consensus of what we regard as underpinnings of decent society, such as the idea that we don't approve of slavery or discrimination on the grounds of race or sex, that we respect free speech and the rights of the individual. All of these things that have become second nature to our morals today owe very little to religion, and mostly have been won in opposition to the teeth of religion.”

“I do not believe that a moral philosophy can ever be founded on a scientific basis. … The valuation of life and all its nobler expressions can only come out of the soul’s yearning toward its own destiny. Every attempt to reduce ethics to scientific formulas must fail. Of that I am perfectly convinced.”

Source: Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb

“I would say to anybody who thinks that all the problems in philosophy can be translated into empirically verifiable answers - whether it be a Lawrence Krauss thinking that physics is rendering philosophy obsolete or a Sam Harris thinking that neuroscience is rendering moral philosophy obsolete - that it takes an awful lot of philosophy - philosophy of science in the first case, moral philosophy in the second - even to demonstrate the relevance of these empirical sciences.”

Thinking Firsts Philosophy Problem Answers Moral Cases Physics Awful Neuroscience Relevance Obsolete Rendering Philosophy Of Science Moral Philosophy

Author:Rebecca Goldstein

“God doesn't help. I think that's a knockdown argument. I think that it really shows that whatever moral knowledge we have and whatever moral progress we make in our knowledge or whatever progress we make in our moral knowledge is not coming really from religion. It's coming from the very hard work really of moral philosophy, of trying to ground our moral reasonings.”

Thinking Trying Hard Philosophy Helping Shows Moral Progress Hard Work Argument Reasoning Moral Philosophy Moral Reasoning

Author:Rebecca Goldstein

“All good moral philosophy is ... but the handmaid to religion.”

Philosophy Science Religion Moral Philosophy Of Religion Moral Philosophy Good Moral Handmaids

Author:Francis Bacon

“I read these words which are the sum of all moral philosophy, and which cut short all the disputes of the casuists: When in doubt if an action is good or bad, refrain.”

Ifs Philosophy Action Religion Moral Doubt Cutting Morality Disputes Refrain When In Doubt Moral Philosophy

Book:The Portable Voltaire

Source: The Portable Voltaire

“Elegant and lucid . . . a pitch-perfect clarion call, issued not with preachy hubris but from a deep place of humility, for awakening to the greatest rewards of living . . . The Road to Character is an essential read in its entirety-Anne Lamott with a harder edge of moral philosophy, Seneca with a softer edge of spiritual sensitivity, E. F. Schumacher for perplexed moderns.”

Philosophy Character Spiritual Perfect Moral Humility Essentials Harder Rewards Edges Awakening Sensitivity Elegant Hubris Entirety Moral Philosophy Perplexed Schumacher Pitch Perfect

Author:Maria Popova

“When we call something unfair or indecent or unconscionable or evil, when we speak of mercy and pity and compassion, those words have meaning, regardless of our particular faith or moral philosophy. They appeal to common standards we all are expected to understand and accept, standards without which we could not live any common life at all.”

Philosophy Evil Speak Common Compassion Accepting Moral Particular Standards Mercy Expected Pity Appeals Unfair Moral Philosophy Common Life

Book:Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

Source: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

“I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us.”

Philosophy Religion Moral Genuine Doctrine Rational Greek Containing Moral Philosophy Epicurean Greece And Rome

Author:Thomas Jefferson

“I think that both Mill and Sidgwick are great and admirable philosophers, from whom we still have a lot to learn. I would not favor a form of Kantianism (if there is such a form) that treats Mill's or Sidgwick's moral philosophy with disrespect.”

Ifs Thinking Stills Philosophy Form Moral Treats Philosopher Favors Admirable Disrespect Mills Moral Philosophy

Author:Allen W. Wood