Quotes About Philosophy

To be is to be the value of a variable.

Evolutionary biologists are not content merely to explain how variation occurs within limits, however. They aspire to answer a much broader question-which is how complex organisms like birds, and flowers, and human beings came into existence in the first place.

I've always thought abstractly - through theme and variations rather than narrative.

Let no man despise the oracles of books! A book is a dead man, a sort of mummy, embowelled and embalmed, but that once had flesh and motion and a boundless variety of determinations and actions.

The brain-mind is not a computer, and regarding it as one has led to a variety of theoretical dead ends.

What does it mean to dance? What does it mean to commit a crime? What does it mean to be anxious? What does it mean to tell a joke? The great thing about the French is that they have thought about these subjects in a great variety of ways and are a very articulate people.

They who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world talk very absurdly; for can anything be more unreasonable than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings?

There are various eyes. Even the Sphinx has eyes: and as a result there are various truths, and as a result there is no truth.

Pure phenomenology claims to be the science of pure phenomena. This concept of the phenomenon, which was developed under various names as early as the eighteenth century without being clarified, is what we shall have to deal with first of all.

What difference is there, do you think, between those in Plato's cave who can only marvel at the shadows and images of various objects, provided they are content and don't know what they miss, and the philosopher who has emerged from the cave and sees the real things?

I'm an agnostic in the truest sense of the word. I think about these things - I grew up Roman Catholic, I've been interested in Hinduism, in Eastern religions, but I'm not dedicated to anything - I go through periods where I think maybe it's all nonsense; maybe it's 'The Matrix...' I'm open to various ideas.

I'm generally not a fan of didactic art because it papers over many of the hard experiences about war or anything else in life. I wanted to explore various aspects of the experience without an eye towards delivering any particular message.

I've had various people close to me die, and I don't necessarily find the idea of death purely depressing.

My favorite class as an undergraduate was a political theory class on justice. Now, 'justice' is hardly a self-defining term, and much smarter men than I have developed various definitions over the centuries. The class put Plato at one end and Nietzsche at the other, and off we went.

The secret to my 5 o'clock shadow is a little device called the George Michael 3000 Custom Beard Trimmer and Personal Massager. Just kidding. I actually shave every morning, and thanks to my vast knowledge of Eastern philosophy and mysticism, I will my facial hair to grow to the exact same length each day. Dave Grohl taught me that one.

Before Vatican II, in theology, as in other areas, the discipline was fixed. After the council there has been a revolution - a chaotic revolution - with free discussion on everything. There is now no common theology or philosophy as there was before.

Almost went vegan, but no, I didn't go vegan.

That's one of the reasons I'm vegan. Death terrifies me. I don't want to impose death on anyone else.

It's totally natural to me to be vegan.

People would say my children should have free will to eat meat - my philosophy is that is wrong, not healthy for the planet, animals or people. They learned and embraced all they could, taking gradual steps toward becoming vegan.

I've been a vegetarian since I was 19.

I am not a vegetarian. For some time, I tried to be a semi-vegetarian, eating only fish, birds, and no red meat, but... I don't know if I have an opinion on vegetarianism.

I'm a vegetarian but not a pandit.

There's no such thing as a vegetarian.