Sidney Morgenbesser Quotes (16 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Sidney Morgenbesser: 16 quotes 2 likes

Famous Sidney Morgenbesser Quotes

“A few weeks before his death, he asked another Columbia philosopher, David Albert, about God. "Why is God making me suffer so much?" he asked. "Just because I don't believe in him?"”

Sidney Morgenbesser

he asked. "Just because I don't believe in him?" The Independent, The Independent, Professor Sidney Morgenbesser: Philosopher celebrated for his withering New York Jewish humour http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sidney-morgenbesser-550224.html, 6 August 2004. The Times, Sidney Morgenbesser: Erudite and influential American linguistic philosopher with the analytical acuity of Spinoza and the blunt wit of Groucho Marx https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sidney-morgenbesser-5cz8gg8qfvm (September 8, 2004). Obituaries – Sidney Morgenbesser, 82, Kibitzing Philosopher, Dies http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/obituaries/04morgenbesser.html. The New York Times (September 8, 2004).

“On the independence of irrelevant alternatives: Morgenbesser, ordering dessert, is told by the waitress that he can choose between apple pie and blueberry pie. He orders the apple pie. Shortly thereafter, the waitress comes back and says that cherry pie is also an option; Morgenbesser says "In that case I'll have the blueberry pie."”

Sidney Morgenbesser

Gaming the vote: why elections aren't fair (and what we can do about it), William Poundstone, p. 50, ISBN 0-8090-4893-0.

“Morgenbesser in response to B. F. Skinner: "Are you telling me it's wrong to anthropomorphize people?" (quoted by Daniel Dennett: The Evolution of Purposes)”

Sidney Morgenbesser

“When asked his opinion of pragmatism, Morgenbesser replied "It's all very well in theory but it doesn't work in practice."”

Sidney Morgenbesser

The Times, Sidney Morgenbesser: Erudite and influential American linguistic philosopher with the analytical acuity of Spinoza and the blunt wit of Groucho Marx https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sidney-morgenbesser-5cz8gg8qfvm, September 8, 2004.

“During campus protests of the 1960s, Sidney Morgenbesser was hit on the head by police. When asked whether he had been treated unfairly or unjustly, he responded that it was "unjust, but not unfair. It was unjust because they hit me over the head, but not unfair because they hit everyone else over the head.””

Sidney Morgenbesser

The Independent, The Independent, Professor Sidney Morgenbesser: Philosopher celebrated for his withering New York Jewish humour http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sidney-morgenbesser-550224.html, 6 August 2004. Obituaries – Sidney Morgenbesser, 82, Kibitzing Philosopher, Dies http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/obituaries/04morgenbesser.html. The New York Times (September 8, 2004). Some of his students then argued that it may have been unjust, because he had not been proven guilty, but it was not unfair because the others were treated in the same way. The Times, Sidney Morgenbesser: Erudite and influential American linguistic philosopher with the analytical acuity of Spinoza and the blunt wit of Groucho Marx https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sidney-morgenbesser-5cz8gg8qfvm, September 8, 2004. This alternative version is sometimes attributed to Morgenbesser himself.

“Asked to prove a questioner's existence, Morgenbesser shot back, "Who's asking?"”

Sidney Morgenbesser

Remembering Sidney Morgenbesser, https://web.archive.org/web/20040821091507/http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getmailfiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/08/03&ID=Ar01400 by Gary Shapiro in 'The New York Sun' 3 August 2004 (Archived by Wayback Machine).

Sidney Morgenbesser Quotes

“In response to Leibniz's ontological query "Why is there something rather than nothing?" Morgenbesser answered "If there were nothing you'd still be complaining!"”

Sidney Morgenbesser

“"There are two errors in the the title of this book." --A sourcebook of philosophical puzzles, paradoxes and problems, Robert M. Martin, p. 4,”

Sidney Morgenbesser

Books , Error , Problem

“Interrogated by a student whether he agreed with Chairman Mao’s view that a statement can be both true and false at the same time, Morgenbesser replied “Well, I do and I don’t.””

Sidney Morgenbesser

Time , Falseness

“A student once interrupted him and said, "I just don't understand." He responded, "Why should you have the advantage over me?"”

Sidney Morgenbesser

Understanding

“During a lecture the Oxford linguistic philosopher J. L. Austin made the claim that although a double negative in English implies a positive meaning, there is no language in which a double positive implies a negative. To which Morgenbesser responded in a dismissive tone, "Yeah, yeah."”

Sidney Morgenbesser

The Independent, The Independent, Professor Sidney Morgenbesser: Philosopher celebrated for his withering New York Jewish humour http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sidney-morgenbesser-550224.html, 6 August 2004. The Times, Sidney Morgenbesser: Erudite and influential American linguistic philosopher with the analytical acuity of Spinoza and the blunt wit of Groucho Marx https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sidney-morgenbesser-5cz8gg8qfvm, September 8, 2004. (Some have quoted it as "Yeah, right.") Block, Melissa (August 2, 2004). " The Witty Professor: Sidney Morgenbesser https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3810783". NPR.org. Baum, Devorah (2017). The Jewish Joke: An essay with examples (less essay, more examples) https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Jewish_Joke.html?id=vwD0DQAAQBAJ. Profile Books. ISBN <bdi>9781782831938</bdi>.

Quotes

“Morgenbesser said the following of George Santayana: “There’s a guy who asserted both p and not-p, and then drew out all the consequences…””

Sidney Morgenbesser

"Language Log" blog, Language Log, If P, so why not Q http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001314.html, 5 August 2004.

Guy

“Morgenbesser was leaving a subway station in New York City and put his pipe in his mouth as he was ascending the steps. A police officer told him that there was no smoking on the subway. Morgenbesser pointed out that he was leaving the subway, not entering it, and hadn't lit up yet anyway. The cop again said that smoking was not allowed in the subway, and Morgenbesser repeated his comment. The cop said, "If I let you do it, I'd have to let everyone do it." Morgenbesser replied, "Who do you think you are, Kant?" The word "Kant" was mistaken for a vulgar epithet and Morgenbesser had to explain the situation at the police station.”

Sidney Morgenbesser

"Kant", properly pronounced, sounds much like a vulgar "C-word" which is what he was mistaken for having said The Independent, The Independent, Professor Sidney Morgenbesser: Philosopher celebrated for his withering New York Jewish humour http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sidney-morgenbesser-550224.html, 6 August 2004. The Times, Sidney Morgenbesser: Erudite and influential American linguistic philosopher with the analytical acuity of Spinoza and the blunt wit of Groucho Marx https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sidney-morgenbesser-5cz8gg8qfvm, September 8, 2004.

Thinking

“When challenged why he had written so little, he fired back: "Moses wrote one book. Then what did he do?"”

Sidney Morgenbesser

Books

“Morgenbesser described Gentile ethics as entailing “ought implies can” while in Jewish ethics “can implies don’t.””

Sidney Morgenbesser