Alexander Rosenberg (1946) American philosopher
The Atheist's Guide to Reality (2011)
" A belated reply from Francis Spufford, who defends his faith http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/a-belated-reply-from-francis-spufford-who-defends-his-faith/" October 2, 2012
Alexander Rosenberg (1946) American philosopher
The Atheist's Guide to Reality (2011)
Jerry Coyne book Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible
Source: Faith vs. Fact (2015), pp. 210-211
“Pretend what we may, the whole man within us is at work when we form our philosophical opinions.”
William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist
1880s, The Sentiment of Rationality (1882)
Context: Pretend what we may, the whole man within us is at work when we form our philosophical opinions. Intellect, will, taste, and passion co-operate just as they do in practical affairs; and lucky it is if the passion be not something as petty as a love of personal conquest over the philosopher across the way.
Jerry Coyne (1949) American biologist
" Do both science and faith produce truth? http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/do-both-science-and-faith-produce-truth/" August 11, 2012
Max Born (1882–1970) physicist
Experiment and Theory in Physics (1943), p. 44
Context: I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed. We do not find signposts at crossroads, but our own scouts erect them, to help the rest.
John Cowper Powys (1872–1963) British writer, lecturer and philosopher
Source: The Complex Vision (1920), Chapter I
Context: My answer to the question "Why do we philosophize?" is as follows. We philosophize for the same reason that we move and speak and laugh and eat and love. In other words, we philosophize because man is a philosophical animal.… We may be as sceptical as we please. Our very scepticism is the confession of an implicit philosophy.
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer
Quoted by Max Weber in his lecture "Science as a Vocation"; in Lynda Walsh (2013), Scientists as Prophets: A Rhetorical Genealogy (2013), Oxford University Press, p. 90
Brian Cox (physicist) (1968) English physicist and former musician
Johnathan Ross Show 26 March 2010 BBC One
Jay Lemke (1946) American academic
Source: Talking Science: Language, Learning, and Values. 1990, p. 175