Quotes About Philosophy

The determinable substratum of potentiality is what in Aristotelian philosophy of nature is meant by the term "matter," and a determining pattern that exists once the potential is actualized is called a "form.

Hence there must not only be something by virtue of which the thing you've drawn is triangular, but also something by virtue of which it is triangular in precisely the imperfect way that it is. There must also be something by virtue of which triangularity exists in this particular point in time and space.

Every one of these claims embodies a metaphysical assumption, and science, since its very method presupposes them, could not possibly defend them without arguing in a circle. Their defense is instead a task for metaphysics, and for philosophy more generally; and scientism is shown thereby to be incoherent.

attributes. For Aquinas, God is "simple" in the sense of being in no way composed of parts (ST I.3).

For example, whereas the natural sciences are concerned with various specific kinds of material substances Ã¢â'¬â€œ stone, water, trees, fish, stars, and so on Ã¢â'¬â€œ metaphysics is concerned with questions such as what it is to be a substance of any kind in the first place. (Is a substance a mere bundle of attributes, or a substratum in which attributes inhere? Are material substances the only possible sort? And so on.) Similarly, the natural sciences are concerned with

For faith, properly understood, does not contradict reason in the least; indeed...it is nothing less than the will to keep one's mind fixed precisely on what reason has discovered to it.

As Alfred North Whitehead once put it, "those who devote themselves to the purpose of proving that there is no purpose constitute an interesting subject for study.

How significant is Aristotle? Well, I wouldn't want to exaggerate, so let me put it this way: Abandoning Aristotelianism, as the founders of modern philosophy did, was the single greatest mistake ever made in the entire history of Western thought.

If you make the effort to work through the ideas I'll be setting out in this book, then even if you do not end up agreeing with me that the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and the natural law conception of morality are rationally unavoidable, you will understand how reasonable people could be convinced of this.

Overall, then, Aristotle just isn't as "sexy" as Plato. His only advantage is being right.

Myself when young did eagerly frequentDoctor and Saint, and heard great argumentAbout it and about: but evermoreCame out by the same door wherein I went.

Leave well - even 'pretty well' - alone that is what I learn as I get old.

The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.

Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.

Interviewer: What is your greatest regret? Gorey: That I don't have one

I don't think anything might have been. What is, is.

I have given up considering happiness as relevant.

approximately 1200 and 1600 that proved conducive for the emergence of the Scientific Revolution. Without the level that medieval natural philosophy attained, with its overwhelming emphasis on reason and analysis, and without the important questions that were first raised in the Middle Ages about other worlds, space, motion, the infinite, and without the kinds of answers they gave, we might, today, still be waiting for Galileo and Newton.

We had learned from him and from experience that stories that combine science fiction with philosophy with optimism, with a comment on social issues and an exploration of human values, are the stories that work for Star Trek.

Words floating in air, lines cut on a page, stanzas carved into units. Poetry is a mode of associative thinking that takes a different route to knowledge than philosophy, its ancient antagonist. It follows its own wayward but resolute path.

Cicero said that even if his lifetime were to be doubled he would still not have time to waste on reading the lyric poets.

You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one.

Science, its imperfections notwithstanding, is the sword in the stone that humanity finally pulled. The question it poses, of universal and orderly materialism, is the most important that can be asked in philosophy and religion.

When the great theologian and philosopher Rabbi Hillel was challenged to explain the Torah in the time he could stand on one foot, he replied, "Do not do unto others that which is repugnant to you. All else is commentary.