Quotes About Philosophy

Where both [Frege and Husserl] failed was in demarcating logical notions too strictly from psychological ones… These failings have left philosophy open to a renewed incursion from psychology, under the banner of 'cognitive science'. The strategies of defence employed by Husserl and Frege will no longer serve: the invaders can be repelled only by correcting the failings of the positive theories of those two pioneers.

In philosophy we must always resist the temptation of hitting on an answer to the question how we can define such-and-such a notion, an answer which supplies a smooth and elegant definition which entirely ignores the purpose which we originally wanted the notion for.

You must let what happens happen. Everything must be equal in your eyes, good and evil, beautiful and ugly, foolish and wise.

I will simply express my strong belief, that that point of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist its desires and inclinations, until they are proved to be right, is the most important of all, not only in things of natural philosophy, but in every department of daily life.

Studiando, noi diventiamo tutti filosofi; dovrete dunque avvezzarvi, ogni volta che un risultato vi sorprende, specialmente quando questo risultato vi par nuovo, dovrete avvezzarvi, dico, a chiedere a voi stessi o ad altri: «Quale è la causa di ciò? Perché le cose succedono a questo modo?» E presto o tardi finirete sempre col trovare la risposta.

The Absolute is Mind – this is the supreme definition of the Absolute." -- Hegel

Science was completely wrong to jettison the ideas of Plato and Aristotle and will have to return to them if it is ever to formulate the Grand Unified Theory of Everything.

God does not create the universe. Precisely the reverse is true. The universe creates God.

As a general rule, when something becomes useful, it ceases to be beautiful." 2 THÉOPHILE GAUTIER, 1811–1872

The world is a confusing place, meaningful and meaningless at once.

Socrates may have concluded that his most valuable possession was his leisure. "Beware the barrenness of a busy life" is a quote commonly attributed to him.

Modern life seems set up so that we can avoid loneliness at all costs, but maybe it's worthwhile to face it occasionally. The further we push aloneness away, the less we are able to cope with it, and the more terrifying it gets. Some philosophers believe that loneliness is the only true feeling there is.

Knight's disdain for Thoreau was bottomless - 'he had no deep insight into nature'...

One becomes free, Socrates seems to have taught, not by fulfilling all desires but by eliminating desire.

Our whole lives, Jefferies said, are wasted traveling in endless small circles; we are all "chained like a horse to an iron pin in the ground." The richest person, Jefferies believed, is the one who works least. "Idleness," he wrote, "is a great good." For Jefferies, like

Some philosophers believe that loneliness is the only true feeling there is

Modern life seems set up so that we can avoid loneliness at all costs, but maybe it's worthwhile to face it occasionally. The further we push aloneness away, the less are we able to cope with it, and the more terrifying it gets. Some philosophers believe that loneliness is the only true feeling there is.

Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching (I recommend the Red Pine translation), and started swimming from there. Excellent

Those with less become content," says the Tao, "those with more become confused.

I have become solitary," wrote the eighteenth-century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "because to me the most desolate solitude seems preferable to the society of wicked men which is nourished only in betrayals and hatred.

Fighting against everything, he may have realized, only makes one's life infinitely harder. He has seen the bottomless nonsense of our world and has decided, like most of us, to simply try to tolerate it. He appears to have surrendered. It is rational, yet heartbreaking.

To learn to die is to learn to live. Death is the giver of life.

Stupidity, selfishness and good health are the three prerequisites of happiness, though if stupidity is lacking the others are useless.'7

Bir duygu, hakk?nda aç?k bir fikir olu?turdu?umuz anda ihtiras olmaktan ç?kar." - Spinoza