I am not by any means a philosopher, although I have worked with some talented people in the discipline. But certain philosophical concepts deeply inform the way I think about the world. The idea of ‘opposing truths at extremes’ is a powerful concept that I came to appreciate in my twenties.
I can only tell you that eggs, country ham, biscuits, a pot of coffee, a morning paper, a table by the window overlooking the veranda and putting green, listening to the idle chitchat of competitors, authors, wits and philosophers, hasn’t exactly been a torturous way to begin each day at the Masters all these years.
There are few circumstances which so strongly distinguish the philosopher, as the calmness with which he can reply to criticisms he may think undeservedly severe.
It has generally been assumed that of two opposing systems of philosophy, e.g., realism and idealism, one only can be true and one must be false; and so philosophers have been hopelessly divided on the question, which is the true one.
I think any good standup or actor is part philosopher, part psychologist and sociologist, because you’re constantly recreating behaviors.
Don’t call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease.
For centuries many of the world’s distinguished philosophers have assaulted Christianity as being irrational, superstitious and absurd.
As long as I have the talent and there’s a demand for the old Chinese man – whether he’s a philosopher, or a master, or an old-time restaurant owner, or a villain, or a so-called good guy – I will always be working.
The figure of Satan and the fires of hell have been demythologized by modern Christian biblical scholars, theologians and philosophers.
All this is applicable to the intellectual faculties of man. There is a considerable difference between one person and another as regards these faculties, as is well known to philosophers.
The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mind.
Einstein’s results again turned the tables and now very few philosophers or scientists still think that scientific knowledge is, or can be, proven knowledge.
The philosophers Camus and Sartre raise the question whether or not a man can condemn himself.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
When it comes to the real operational issues that govern our understanding of physical reality, ontological definitions of classical philosophers are, in my opinion, sterile.
What we should in fact do, is stop allowing philosophers to reflect ‘on’ things. The philosopher creates, he doesn’t reflect.
I maintain that many an inventor, many a diplomat, many a financier is a sounder philosopher than all those who practice the dull craft of experimental psychology.
Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.
When I wrote my first album, I was reading Joseph Campbell – he’s this philosopher who writes about mythology. That inspired the title, ‘No Mythologies to Follow.’
Another important historical factor is the fact that this already very simple religion was further simplified and purified by the early philosophers of ancient China. Our first great philosopher was a founder of naturalism; and our second great philosopher was an agnostic.
Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.
As I say, there was this movement to try to bring philosophers and mathematicians together into an organization where they would talk to each other. An organization wasn’t effective unless you had a journal. That’s about all I know.
I think philosophers can do things akin to theoretical scientists, in that, having read about empirical data, they too can think of what hypotheses and theories might account for that data. So there’s a continuity between philosophy and science in that way.
Philosophers and theologians have argued for centuries over the morality of targeted assassinations – a technique that the Israelis use with some frequency – without ever reaching anything approaching consensus.
We are political animals, as, not without reason, affirmed Aristotle, who perhaps influenced humanity’s thinking more than any other ancient philosopher through his almost 200 treatises, according to reports, of which only 31 have been preserved.
That was sort of the ‘Second City’ approach, which was try to be intelligent and assume your audience is intelligent. We were influenced by ‘Monty Python,’ too, which would have philosophers in a wrestling match.
Philosophy is best practised by people in general and not by philosophers alone. Philosophy is too often a luxury now, but in ancient Greece, carpenters, masons and beggars were the main practitioners. What I am trying to develop is a philosophical system where all the subjects can be taught.
A writer is not a prophet, is not a philosopher; he’s just someone who is witness to what is around him. And so writing is a way to… it’s the best way to testify, to be a witness.
The picture which the philosopher draws of the world is surely not one in which every stroke is necessitated by pure logic.
I’m not a minister, I’m not a philosopher, I’m not a politician, I’m in another category.
The American people want to pay attention to serious ideas again. Our founding was built by people who were political philosophers, and we need to get back to that, away from this kind of cheap political rhetoric of Right and Left.
For example, the philosophers who were interested in logic were probably rather logical for mathematicians. But the ASL got us together, so we could talk to each other and publish in the same journal.
Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosopher who celebrated the anguish of decision as a hallmark of responsibility, has no place in Silicon Valley.
In my office, I have a very beautiful marble bust of Seneca. I always have my eye on him when I’m taking phone calls. He’s one of the many philosophers I’ve always read and admired.
Simon Critchley’s ‘The Book of Dead Philosophers’ – it’s a quick thumbnail sketches of philosophers through the ages.
There is nothing so absurd that some philosopher has not already said it.
Seneca brings vividly before us a picture of the various scholars assembled in a school of the philosophers.
If any philosopher had been asked for a definition of infinity, he might have produced some unintelligible rigmarole, but he would certainly not have been able to give a definition that had any meaning at all.
I’m really clear about what my life mission is now. There’s no more depression or lethargy, and I feel like I’ve returned to the athlete I once was. I’m integrating all the parts of me – jock, musician, writer, poet, philosopher – and becoming stronger as a result.
It is, I think, particularly in periods of acknowledged crisis that scientists have turned to philosophical analysis as a device for unlocking the riddles of their field. Scientists have not generally needed or wanted to be philosophers.
I like Jacques Derrida; I think he’s funny. I like my philosophy with a few jokes and puns. I know that that offends other philosophers; they think he’s not taking things seriously, but he comes up with some marvellous puns. Why shouldn’t you have a bit of fun while dealing with the deepest issues of the mind?
If I had my way there would be a philosopher sitting round the table on every committee and in every boardroom.
A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.
A philosopher once said, ‘Half of good philosophy is good grammar.’
The theories of the major philosophers of the 18th century secular enlightenment were biblical and theological in spite of themselves.
To decide to become a philosopher seemed as foolish to me as to decide to become a poet.
Politicians, ideologists, theologians and philosophers try time and again to provide solutions with nothing remaining: prefab solved problems.
I am not a philosopher, only frustrated by the development of the world we live in – and too stupid to keep my mouth shut when I see injustice.
In my fifth year in Beijing, I moved into a one-story brick house beside the Confucius Temple, a seven-hundred-year-old shrine to China’s most important philosopher.
When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings; when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man.
A growing and increasingly influential movement of philosophers, ethicists, law professors and activists are convinced that the great moral struggle of our time will be for the rights of animals.
The wall at Le Philosophe is covered with French philosophers, and supposedly, if you are able to name all of them, they will pay for your meal. I was only able to identify Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre, Descartes and, I think, Foucault. And, I think, Luce Irigaray.
I think, when people hear the word ‘philosophy,’ they think of Plato and a bunch of people sitting around in their robes pontificating about life and how it should be. But really, somebody who is an active philosopher should not only be thinking of these things but putting them into practice.
