Philosophy Quotes

"Nominalism and realism are not metaphysical facts but pragmatic choices."

"Stimulus and response are separated by interpretation."

"Categories are human inventions, not features of reality itself."

"Meaning and reference are not fixed by the mind alone."

"The rigid designator is a useful fiction, not a metaphysical fact."

"Our conceptual scheme shapes what counts as an object."

"The distinction between questions and pseudo-questions depends on context."

"Properties are not intrinsic but relative to a description."

"The question 'What is there?' has no answer independent of a framework."

"Platonism about mathematics requires no more than pragmatic acceptance."

"Quantification is the key to ontological commitment."

"We bind ourselves to theories by using quantified variables."

"Reductionism fails because the whole is not merely the sum of its parts."

"Extensionality has limits—intensional contexts resist it."

"The scope of a quantifier matters more than we initially thought."

"Nominalism and realism represent different choices, not different truths."

"Necessity derives from language, not from the world."

"Identity statements involving proper names are conventional."

"Abstract objects have no causal powers, yet we cannot do without them."

"Ontological reduction is often more trouble than it is worth."

"The doctrine of internal relations is incoherent."

"Universals are not needed if properties can be expressed extensionally."

"Identity and indistinguishability are sometimes irresolvable."

"The task of philosophy is to clarify the meaning of concepts, not to provide ultimate truths about reality."

"Metaphysics arises from confusion about the use of words and their meanings."

"The elimination of metaphysical pseudo-problems is one of philosophy's greatest achievements."

"The external world is organized according to our conceptual schemes."

"Conceptual frameworks are human constructions, neither true nor false in themselves."

"Philosophical confusions often dissolve when we examine the actual use of words."

"The quest for absolute foundations in knowledge is itself a pseudo-problem."