Simon Blackburn Quotes

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There may be rhetoric about the socially constructed nature of Western science, but wherever it matters, there is no alternative. There are no specifically Hindu or Taoist designs for mobile phones, faxes or televisions. There are no satellites based on feminist alternatives to quantum theory. Even that great public sceptic about the value of science, Prince Charles, never flies a helicopter burning homeopathically diluted petrol, that is, water with only a memory of benzine molecules, maintained by a schedule derived from reading tea leaves, and navigated by a crystal ball.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: There may be rhetoric about
Others may want to stand upon the 'politics of identity', or in other words the kind of identification with a particular tradition, or group, or national or ethnic identity that invites them to turn their back on outsiders who question the ways of the group. They will shrug off criticism: their values are 'incommensurable' with the values of outsiders. They are to be understood only by brothers and sisters within the circle. People like to retreat to within a thick, comfortable, traditional set of folkways, and not to worry too much about their structure, or their origins, or even the criticisms that they may deserve. Reflection opens the avenue to criticism, and the folkways may not like criticism. In this way, ideologies become closed circles, primed to feel outraged by the questioning mind.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Others may want to stand
Leibniz thought that if we had a sufficiently logical notation, dispute and confusion would cease, and men would sit together and resolve their disputes by calculation.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Leibniz thought that if we
Thoughts are strange things. they have 'representational' powers: a thought typically represents the world as being one way or another. A sensation, by contrast, seems to just sit there.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Thoughts are strange things. they
There are always people telling us what we want, how they will provide it, and what we should believe. Convictions are infectious, and people can make others convinced of almost anything.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: There are always people telling
WORTH IT?
It is no credit to our phase of civilization if it is fear rather than ambition that drives most of those who bankrupt themselves on the vanities, or who end up under the surgeon's knife. It is the fear of falling short, of being inadequate in the eyes of others, including loved ones. [ ... ]
It is unfitting, one might say, improper, treating one's owm body as a tool rather than a part of oneself. [ ... ]
The bottom line is that it dishonors ourselves, for we ought to think better of ourselves than that.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: WORTH IT?<br>It is no credit
There are normal times when it is wholly admirable to be steadfast, resolute, unconflicted, and therefore when integrity is unmistakenly a virtue. The person of integrity knows what to do, and does it. But as we have been exploring, there are also times when certainty and single-mindedness indicate something less admirable: a deafness to voices that should be heard or a blindness to aspects of a situation that need to be considered.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: There are normal times when
A god that created the world and then walked off the site leaving it to its own devices is not a fit object of worship, nor a source of moral authority.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: A god that created the
Wittgenstein imagined that the philosopher was like a therapist whose task was to put problems finally to rest, and to cure us ofbeing bewitched by them. So we are told to stop, to shut off lines of inquiry, not to find things puzzling nor to seek explanations. This is intellectual suicide.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Wittgenstein imagined that the philosopher
Why should thinkers mock the simple pieties of the people?
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Why should thinkers mock the
The scientific world is to be less threatening than was feared. It is to made safe for human beings. And the way to make it safe is to reflect on the foundation of knowledge.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: The scientific world is to
Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the source of her wonders.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Imagination abandoned by reason produces
The gods we make in our own image are tribal gods. They tell you how very, very little you should tolerate outsiders, who are less favoured of the Lord. Amazingly, there are no recorded cases of the holy man going up the mountain and finding that it's the others who are right. It always turns out that God wants unbelievers to suffer, and what could be more noble than to help him a little? When religion rules, toleration disappears, for you cannot cherish the verdict of death to the infidels, yet also tolerate those who disagree - for those are the very same infidels ...
Simon Blackburn Quotes: The gods we make in
People who have cut their teeth on philosophical problems of rationality, knowledge, perception, free will and other minds are well placed to think better about problems of evidence, decision making, responsibility and ethics that life throws up.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: People who have cut their
How you think about what you are doing affects how you do it, or whether you do it at all.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: How you think about what
Respect, of course is a tricky term. I may respect your gardening by just letting you get on with it. Or, I may respect it by admiring it and regarding it as a superior way to garden.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Respect, of course is a
Myself, I have never seen a bumper sticker saying " Hate if you Love Jesus ", but I sometimes wonder why not. It would be a good slogan for the religious Right.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Myself, I have never seen
We can grieve over lost powers and memories, or rejoice over gained knowledge and maturity, according to taste.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: We can grieve over lost
Nobody ever inferred from the multiple infirmities of Windows that Bill Gates was infinitely benevolent, omniscient, and able to fix everything.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Nobody ever inferred from the
It is the thought that the least efficient way of of finding either happiness or pleasure is to pursue them. Put in terms of happiness, we can see it like this: To be happy you must quite literally "lose yourself". You must lose yourself in some pursuit; you need to forget your own happiness and find other goals and projects, other objects of concern that might include the welfare of some other people, or the cure of the disease, or simply in the variety of everyday activities with their little successes and setbacks.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: It is the thought that
We must inspect each part, and we have to do so while relying on other parts. But the result of that inspection may, if we are coherent and imaginative, be perfectly seaworthy.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: We must inspect each part,
Our concepts or ideas form the mental housing in which we live. We may end up proud of the structures we have built. Or we may believe that they need dismantling and starting afresh. But first, we have to know what they are.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Our concepts or ideas form
I cannot climb out onto the nature of your mind. So how then do I know anything about your mental life? How do I know, for instance, that you see the colour blue the way that I do? Might it be that some of us feel pain more, but make less fuss about it, or that others feel pain less, but make more fuss?
Simon Blackburn Quotes: I cannot climb out onto
We can check on what people say by seeing what they do.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: We can check on what
Since there is no telling in advance where it may lead, reflection can be seen as dangerous .
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Since there is no telling
When the hoary old question of nature versus nurture comes around, sides form quickly.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: When the hoary old question
If our best efforts come to nothing often enough, we need consolation, and thoughts of unfolding, infinite destiny, or karma , are sometimes consoling.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: If our best efforts come
The absolutist takes himself to read nature in her very own language, but the relativist insists that nature does not speak, and we hear only what we have elected to hear.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: The absolutist takes himself to
The absolutist parades his good solid grounding in observation, reason, objectivity, truth and fact; the relativist sees only fetishes.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: The absolutist parades his good
our ideas and concepts can be compared with the lenses through which we see the world. In philosophy the lens is itself the topic of study. Success will be a matter not of how much you know at the end, but of what you can do when the going gets tough: when the seas of argument rise, and confusion breaks out. Success will mean taking seriously the implications of ideas. WHAT IS THE POINT?
Simon Blackburn Quotes: our ideas and concepts can
what Russell called a 'logical construction out of aggregates of facts. (This does not mean that all statements about the average are sensible or useful: as has been said, the average person has one testicle and one breast.)
Simon Blackburn Quotes: what Russell called a 'logical
Chance is as relentless as necessity.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Chance is as relentless as
The absolutist takes himself to speak to the ages, with the tongue of angels, but the relativist hears only one version among others, the subjectivity of the here and now.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: The absolutist takes himself to
Science similarly contains within itself the devices for correcting the illusions of science. That is its crowning glory. When we come upon intellectual endeavours that contain no such devices - one might cite psychoanalysis, grand political theories, 'new age' science, creationist science - we need not be interested.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Science similarly contains within itself
Paradigms can be asked to show their worth, an some of them do not stand up.
Simon Blackburn Quotes: Paradigms can be asked to
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