Quotes About Reason

L'uomo non è perfetto, d'accordo. Ma questo non è che una ragione di più, forse la ragione migliore, per non dare a nessuno i mezzi per «mettere i freni alla libertà individuale».

The reason why our sentient, percipient and thinking ego is met nowhere within our scientific world picture can easily be indicated in seven words: because it is itself that world picture.

Most of the human race, by one means or other, are prepossessed with principles opposed to the religion of reason.

As [religious teachers] exclude reason and justice from their imaginary notions of religion, they also exclude it from the providence and moral government of God.

Those who invalidate reason, ought seriously to consider, 'whether they argue against reason, with or without reason; if with reason, then they establish the principle, that they are laboring to dethrone;' but if they argue without reason, (which, in order to be consistent with themselves, they must do,) they are out of the reach of rational conviction, nor do they deserve a rational argument.

What if depression – reason's failure to achieve self-mastery – is not the failure of reason but instead the result of reason? What if human reason works "too well," and brings us to conclusions that are anathema to the existence of human beings? What we would have is a "cold rationalism," shoring up the anthropocentric conceits of the philosophical endeavor, showing us an anonymous, faceless world impervious to our hopes and desires.

Traditionally, the Socratic tradition in philosophy has a therapeutic function, which is to dispel the horrors of the unknown through reasoned argument. What cannot be tolerated in this tradition is the possibility of a world that cannot be known, or a world that is indifferent to our elaborate knowledge-producing schemes.

In presenting problems without solutions, in posing questions without answers, in retreating to the hermetic, cavernous abode of complaint, pessimism is guilty of that most inexcusable of Occidental crimes – the crime of not pretending it's all for a reason.

Suddenly a phrase jumps out: "…I would say be very wary of anyone telling you you're suffering for a reason…" I forget the question that this was the response to.

Those who are held wise among men, and who search for the reason of things, are those who bring the most sorrow upon themselves

Reason can wrestle and overthrow terror.

If anyone imagines that scientists are dispassionate and impartial people, discussing theories and ideas unemotionally in the cool clear light of reason, they have been seriously misled.

We all also suffer from confirmation bias, the tendency to spot evidence in support of a proposition that we already think is true. So it is not always the case that people start with a belief and then set out to communicate it; much of the bullshit to which we are exposed comes from folks who have a compelling reason to communicate something and then come to believe it. Or to think they believe it.

Serious poetry deals with the fundamental conflicts that cannot be logically resolved: we can state the conflicts rationally, but reason does not relieve us of them.

The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one.

All religions are, in some basic sense, irrational.

To assert that it is possible to establish peace between men of different nations is simply to assert that man, whatever his ethnical background, his race, religious beliefs, or philosophy, is capable of reason.

Science began as one of the noblest expressions of man's reason. It will continue to serve humanity so long as it never forgets that human beings remain the heart of its purpose.

All military regimes use security as the reason why they should remain in power. It's nothing original.

I see myself as a journalist reporting neglected stories about our past and trying to bring rigor, reason and intuition to the quest.

The harshness and choice of words can cut deeply. Republicans need to show compassion and to be reasonable when talking to any ethnic group.

There are high hurdles for expelling someone from a party, and with good reason.

You do have those guys that talk a lot. I understand they're doing it for a reason, to hype a fight, but then you get guys who do it and you can tell that they're trying too hard.

If there is any form of contagion that is adaptive, it is the immediate response to the fear of others. If others are fearful, there may be good reason for you to be fearful too.