Philosophy

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Quotes regarding Philosophy and philosophers:

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"In order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must make choices; in order to make choices, he must define a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he must know what he is and where he is – i.e. he must know his own nature (including his means of knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he acts – i.e. he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this need; his only alternative is whether the philosophy guiding him is to be chosen by his mind or by chance." Ayn Rand, "Philosophy, who needs it?".

"'Philosophy' is a word which has been used in many ways, some wider, some narrower. I propose to use it in a very wide sense, which I will now try to explain."
- Bertrand Russell A History of Western Philosophy

"'You only think you are you barnpots,' shouted angry farmers from the meadows. 'Shut that row up! You're frightening the chickens, you lot and your bloody philosophy. You can't eat philosophy can you? Where would you be if us farmers went round spouting statements like that, eh? Dead, that's where you'd be! Because there'd be naff all to eat!"
- Mike Harding 'Rambling on'

"Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest--whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories--comes afterward. These are games; one must first answer." ~ Albert Camus

People often say to me,
I understand what you are talking about intellectually, but I don’t really feel it, I don’t realize it,
and I am apt to reply,
"I wonder whether you do understand it intellectually, because if you did, you would also feel it." ~ Alan Watts

"Philosophy studies the fundamental nature of existence, of man, and of man's relationship to existence. In the realm of cognition, the special sciences are the trees, but philosophy is the soil which makes the forest possible." ~ Ayn Rand

"Believe nothing, O monks, merely because you have been told it … or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings—that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide. ~ Gautama Buddha (attributed)

"Science is what we know and philosophy is what we don't know." ~ Bertrand Russell

"What is your aim in philosophy? To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle." ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Philosophy is the peculiarly stubborn attempt to think clearly." ~ William James

"Philosophy, n. A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing." ~ Ambrose Bierce

"The philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways; the point, however, is to change it." ~ Karl Marx