Quotes about philosopher
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“The reason why there are hardly ever completely knock-down arguments, except between very like minded philosophers, is that philosophers, unlike chemists or geologists, are licensed to question everything, including methodology.”

J. J. C. Smart (1920–2012) Australian philosopher and academic

Ockhamist Comments on Strawson, in Anthony Freeman (ed.), Consciousness and its Place in Nature: Does Physicalism Entail Panpsychism?, Exteter, 2006, pp. 158-159
Other quotes

Question
Daniel Dennett photo

“The middle ground, roughly halfway between poetry and mathematics, is where philosophers can make their best contributions, I believe, yielding genuine clarifications of deeply puzzling problems.”

Daniel Dennett (1942) American philosopher

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking (2013)

Problem , Mathematics
Thomas Aquinas photo

“The reason, however, why the philosopher may be likened to the poet is this: both are concerned with the marvellous.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church

Source: Commentary on the Metaphysics (c. 1270–1272), 1, 3; quoted in Josef Pieper, Leisure, the Basis of Culture (New York, 1952), p. 88

Epifanio de los Santos photo

“Philosophy is more often the systematization of the prejudices of philosophers than the systematization of nature. Distrust all generalizations: stick to the concrete.”

Epifanio de los Santos (1871–1928) Filipino politician

Remarkable Quotes
Source: As quoted in “Don Pañong – Genius" by A.V.H. Hartendorp in Philippine Magazine (September 1929), p. 211.

Nature

“Philosophers conclude that they need no longer participate personally in what Socrates called “the tendance of the soul.””

Bruce Wilshire (1932–2015) American philosopher

Source: Fashionable Nihilism (2002), p. xii

Soul , Personality

“Philosophy is not exactly science, [analytic philosophers] think, but it must resemble science in its style and mood of detachment: its appearance of being without any particular person’s or any particular group’s biases.”

Bruce Wilshire (1932–2015) American philosopher

Source: Fashionable Nihilism (2002), p. xii

Personality , Appearance , Science , Mood
Jeff "Swampy" Marsh photo

“From a cinema major’s perspective, philosophically, theoretically it’s easier for people to imprint on that character what they think they’re feeling. I don’t know why, but it seems easier for kids to identify with someone like Ferb, or Perry, when they say nothing.”

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (1960) American television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist and actor

Source: Phineas & Ferb's Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh on Their Platypus Super-Spy Perry https://www.mtv.com/news/2625269/phineas-ferbs-dan-povenmire-and-jeff-swampy-marsh/ (30 May 2012)

Feeling , People , Thinking
Catherine Rowett photo

“If we are to understand what is going on in Empedocles’s writings, we need to think about the philosophical motives that drive him, and we need to make use of the bits of text we already had before the papyrus turned up.”

Catherine Rowett (1956) Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia (born 1956)

Source: Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (2004), Ch. 1 : Lost words, forgotten worlds

Motivation , Understanding , Thinking
Alfred Austin photo

“If you are not something of a philosopher,—and by philosophy I understand a serene temper, and the maintaining of an equable mind under the sharpest disappointments,—I do not advise you to cultivate, or at any rate to grow enamoured of, a garden.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: In Veronica's Garden (1895), p. 92.

Understanding , Disappointment

“Philosophy is the attempt to formulate principles or categories which the philosopher already possesses, in common with everyone else, but in an unformulated state.”

Otis Hamilton Lee (1902–1948) American philosopher

Source: [10.1086/286600, Philosophy and Science, Philosophy of Science, 7, 7–17, 1940, Lee, Otis]

René Guénon photo

“A philosopher's renown is increased more by inventing a new error than by repeating a truth that has already been expressed by others.”

René Guénon (1886–1951) French metaphysician

Source: The Crisis of the Modern World (1927), p. 56

Truth , Error
Paulo Coelho photo

“Men begin to reject simple things, and to write tracts, interpretations, and philosophical studies. They also begin to feel that they know a better way.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Unsourced

Study , Feeling , Way , Men
Santiago Ramón y Cajal photo

“Now and then philosophers invade the field of biological sciences with these beguiling generalizations, which tend to be unproductive, purely verbal solutions lacking in substance. At best, they may prove useful when viewed simply as working hypotheses.”

Santiago Ramón y Cajal book Advice for a Young Investigator

Advice for a Young Investigator (1897)

Science
Susan Cain photo

“The secret that our poets and philosophers have been trying to tell us for centuries, is that our longing is the great gateway to belonging.”

Susan Cain (1968) self-help writer

Bittersweet Introduction at p. xxvii

Secret
Tertullian photo

“Notorious, too, are the dealings of heretics with swarms of magicians and charlatans and astrologers and philosophers — all, of course, devotees of speculation. You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.”

Tertullian (155–220) Christian theologian

The Prescriptions Against the Heretics as translated by Stanley Lawrence Greenslade, in Early Latin Theology: Selections from Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, and Jerome (1956), p. 63
The Prescription Against Heretics https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0311.htm

Way , Faith

“However, as one or another of the philosophers has probably noted ere now, the morning was not quite over yet.”

Lin Carter book Kesrick

Source: Kesrick (1982), Chapter 13, “Wed and Widowed” (p. 86)

“The garden of life never seems to confine itself to the plot philosophers have laid out for its convenience maybe a few more tractors would do the trick.”

Roger Zelazny (1937–1995) American speculative fiction writer

Source: Short fiction, Home is the Hangman (1975), p. 149

Life

“Why does The Holocaust persist in haunting our conscience? Why does it dominate the introspection of philosophers and historians alike? By the numbers alone, the murders were not unprecedented. At that juncture of 20th Century history, Stalin and Lenin had already brutally murdered tens of millions. The Holocaust fascinates not because of its numbers, but because of the means employed. At no point in time had an entire society dedicated its full might to the perpetual elimination of those unwanted elements of the population. Every aspect of Hitler’s National Socialism was geared towards cleansing and improving the breeding stock of Germania. Hitler’s National Socialist government was focused on the breeding, education, and training of a “master race.” The social, cultural, legislative, and industrial mechanisms of Hitler’s National Socialism were designed to perpetually “select” its populace. The central planners of National Socialism would “select” those that would live, those that would die, and those that would be sterilized slave labor. National Socialism was intended to have the “total” control to decide who would be allowed to procreate, and as a result, those that would be allowed to contribute to Hitler’s ideal society.”

A.E. Samaan

Source: H.H. LAUGHLIN: American Scientist. American Progressive. Nazi Collaborator.

Training , Education , History , Time

“The primary duty of humanity is a complex and philosophical question that has been debated for centuries. Some people believe that our duty is to serve a higher power or divine purpose, while others argue that our duty is to promote the well-being and happiness of all individuals in society. Ultimately, the answer depends on one's personal beliefs and values. However, it can be said that the core of our duty as human beings is to strive for a better world, one that promotes compassion, empathy and respect for all living beings. It is our responsibility to work towards a society where everyone has access to the basic necessities of life, where we protect the environment, and where we strive to understand and appreciate the diversity of our fellow human beings.


¹”

Titon Rahmawan
Dependency , Personality , Understanding , Question

“The ego tends to put itself above everything that is philosophically corrupt and destructive. Can we accept the idea that the ego must accept the consequences of what it has done? It must take responsibility for the motive behind it. If that motive is virtue and goodness, then we have placed the ego in the right proportion. But on the contrary, if it denies the human traits that collectively uphold moral ethics, law, justice and honesty, then it will easily fall into the hole that it has dug for itself.”

Titon Rahmawan
Motivation , Idea , Justice , Law