Quotes About Philosophy

The examined life examines death.

it is likely that even if string theory is right, no one ever will. Strings are so small that a direct observation would be tantamount to reading the text on this page from a distance of 100 light-years: it would require resolving power nearly a billion billion times finer than our current technology allows. Some scientists argue vociferously that a theory so removed from direct empirical testing lies in the realm of philosophy or theology, but not physics.

To survive is to kindle the search for why survival matters. Technicians inevitably become philosophers. Or scientists. Or theologians. Or writers. Or composers. Or musicians. Or artists. Or poets. Or devotees of thousands of variations and combinations of systems of thought and creative expression that promise insight into the very questions that gnaw at our insides long after our stomachs are full.

The most extreme of those who hold this opinion would go as far as declaring that, indeed, when no one and no thing is "looking" at or interacting with the moon in any way, it is not there.

I used to imagine that by studying the universe, by peeling it apart figuratively and literally, we would answer enough of the how questions to catch a glimpse of the answers to the whys.

Now, more often than not, contemplating the far future leaves me with a feeling of calm and connection, as if my own identity hardly matters because it has been subsumed by what I can only describe as a feeling of gratitude for the gift of experience

The first variation is called the delayed-choice experiment and was suggested in 1980 by the eminent physicist John Wheeler. The experiment brushes up against an eerily odd-sounding question: Does the past depend on the future?

One response, relied upon through the ages to address embryonic versions of such concerns, is that order is hewn from the chaos by a supreme intelligence. Human experience aligns with this anthropomorphically inspired turn.

La cosmología tiene la capacidad de llamar nuestra atención a un nivel profundo y visceral, porque comprender cómo comenzó todo es, al menos para algunos, el punto en el que podemos encontrarnos más cerca de comprender por qué empezó.

In Plato's parable of the cave, our senses are privy only to a flattened, diminished version of the true, more richly textured, reality. Maldacena's flattened world is very different. Far from being diminished, it tells the full story. It's a profoundly different story from the one we're used to. But his flattened world may well be the primary narrator.

I think I thought, therefore I think I was.

Each moment—each event or happening—exists, just as each point in space exists. Moments don't momentarily come to life when illuminated by the "spotlight" of an observer's present; that image aligns well with our intuition but fails to stand up to logical analysis. Instead, once illuminated, always illuminated. Moments don't change. Moments are. Being illuminated is simply one of the many unchanging features that constitute a moment.

the tough philosophy of Ginaz taught that there were no accidents, no excuses for failure. Every event was the result of a sequence of actions. Intentions were irrelevant to actual outcomes.

Written words, if carefully laid down, represent the civilized ideal of reason.

The Universe operates on a basic principle of economics: everything has its cost. We pay to create our future, we pay for the mistakes of the past. We pay for every change we make Ã¢â'¬Â¦ and we pay just as dearly if we refuse to change. —Guild Bank Annals, Philosophical Register

We can never atone for all the harm we cause in our lifetimes. We each make decisions based on personal priorities. In the process, people are invariably shunted aside. Someone suffers. —teaching of the new Philosophical Academy

The Universe operates on a basic principle of economics: everything has its cost. We pay to create our future, we pay for the mistakes of the past. We pay for every change we make . . . and we pay just as dearly if we refuse to change. —Guild Bank Annals, Philosophical Register

Consciousness and logic are not reliable standards. —COGITORS, Fundamental Postulate

La pregunta definitiva: ¿por qué existe la vida? La respuesta: por el puro placer de vivir.

Why look for meaning where there is none? Would you follow a path you know leads nowhere? —Query of the Mentat School

The symbolism of a belief can survive far longer than the belief itself.

Logic and reason are deceptive. They can lead a person to lose his soul. —MANFORD TORONDO, speech on Salusa Secundus

Fire has no form of its own, but clings to the burning object. Light clings to darkness. —Cogitor philosophy

The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. —Meditations from Bifrost Eyrie, Buddislamic Text