Philosophy Quotes

"The search for meaning is uniquely human."

"The creatures we share this planet with have intrinsic value beyond their usefulness to us."

"Connection with animals reveals our own humanity."

"Philosophy asks the questions that science attempts to answer."

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness."

"I am now convinced that theoretical physics is actual philosophy."

"The principle of causality has nothing to do with the principle of determinism."

"Anybody who realizes that the world of science is separate from the world of human concerns makes a grave mistake."

"It is impossible to distinguish between what is real and what appears real when both produce identical results."

"The task of science is not to diminish human dignity but to elevate our understanding of it."

"Contingency is a thing unto itself, not merely the absence of determinism."

"Pluralism is not relativism; multiple approaches can exist without all being equally valid."

"If we wind the tape of life back and replayed it, we would not arrive at humans again."

"We are part of nature, not observers standing apart from it."

"To be human is to be aware of our own mortality and our place in deep time."

"Progress is not inherent in nature; it is an invention of human culture."

"Homo sapiens is a recent and contingent product of evolution, not its ultimate goal."

"To understand evolution is to understand that we are part of nature, not separate from it."

"I am now convinced that theoretical physics is actual philosophy."

"I think that modern physics has definitely decided in favor of Plato."

"For a parallel between physics and mysticism—both are ultimately concerned with something beyond the reach of ordinary words and concepts."

"The division of the world into subject and object, inner world and outer world, is something we cannot overcome."

"The physicist who finds it necessary to speak of the 'reality' of the electron may be asked what he means by the word 'reality.'"

"What is the world? Only a constant flow of events."

"We cannot escape the fact that the world we know is constructed in order (and thus in such a way as to be) understandable to minds like ours."

"Man could not live if his efforts were determined only by a struggle for existence."

"The mind creates a reality within the reality that exists."

"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do."

"The laws of nature are written in the language of mathematics."

"I would rather have questions I cannot answer than answers I cannot question."