
“In order to understand, observe, deduce, man must first be conscious of himself as alive.”
Source: War and Peace
Lecture II : The Universal Categories, § 2 : Struggle, CP 5.53
Pragmatism and Pragmaticism (1903)
“In order to understand, observe, deduce, man must first be conscious of himself as alive.”
Source: War and Peace
"Speech to Danish working-class actors on the art of observation" [Rede an dänische Arbeiterschauspieler über die Kunst der Beobachtung] (1934), from The Messingkauf Poems, published in Versuche 14 (1955); trans. John Willett in Poems, 1913-1956, pp. 235-236
Poems, 1913-1956 (1976)
An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth (1940), Introduction, p. 15
1940s
“Those observations are but foul,
Which make me wise to lose my soul.”
"Childhood".
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Context: Why should I not love childhood still?
Why, if I see a rock or shelf,
Shall I from thence cast down myself?
Or by complying with the world,
From the same precipice be hurled?
Those observations are but foul,
Which make me wise to lose my soul. And yet the practice worldlings call
Business, and weighty action all,
Checking the poor child for his play,
But gravely cast themselves away.
"What I've Learned: Alex Trebek", Esquire, March 2003.
“The proper form of economy must be observed in building houses for each and every class.”
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book I, Chapter II, Sec. 9
“A just king must be the first to observe those laws that he has himself prescribed.”
Ogni giusto re primo servatore dee essere delle leggi fatte da lui.
Seventh Day, Tenth Story
The Decameron (c. 1350)
Pap VI B 120:13 1845
1840s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s
“For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal.”
The Philosophy of Physical Science (1938)
Context: For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal. It does not follow that every item which we confidently accept as physical knowledge has actually been certified by the Court; our confidence is that it would be certified by the Court if it were submitted. But it does follow that every item of physical knowledge is of a form which might be submitted to the Court. It must be such that we can specify (although it may be impracticable to carry out) an observational procedure which would decide whether it is true or not. Clearly a statement cannot be tested by observation unless it is an assertion about the results of observation. Every item of physical knowledge must therefore be an assertion of what has been or would be the result of carrying out a specified observational procedure. <!-- p. 9
Source: Art As a Social System (2000), p. 54 as cited in: Pamela M. Lee (2004) Chronophobia: On Time in the Art of the 1960's. p. 66.