Philosophy Quotes

"The human body is the picture of the soul."

"Just as in a city we use signs to show the direction, so in language we use signs to make a statement."

"The limits of language are the limits of the world."

"The true end of philosophy is to free us from confusion and bewilderment."

"The ontological status of abstract objects is a question we must face squarely in our canonical notation."

"Identity is relative; there is no absolute criterion of sameness."

"Analyticity itself is a myth of philosophical convenience."

"Belief revision must be holistic, never atomistic."

"Philosophical problems often dissolve under careful linguistic analysis."

"Logic is a tool, not a mirror of reality's structure."

"The distinction between analytic and synthetic is untenable."

"Ontological commitment is made through our use of quantifiers."

"We are trapped within our web of belief; escape is impossible."

"Every object is identical with itself but related to others by degrees."

"The structure of language reflects the structure of our concerns."

"Identity is not absolute but relative to a conceptual scheme."

"We inhabit a web of mutually supporting beliefs."

"Ontology is relative to a choice of language."

"The structure of thought reflects the structure of language."

"Identity without difference is conceptually empty."

"The analytic-synthetic boundary is a pragmatic convenience, nothing more."

"Language contains the assumptions that structure our thought."

"Names are rigid designators - they refer to the same object in all possible worlds where that object exists."

"The intuition behind essentialism is that some properties of objects are more fundamental than others."

"Possible worlds are tools for understanding modality, not alternative universes with equal reality."

"Identity across possible worlds is not a mystery if we think of worlds as concrete particulars, not merely as ways things might be."

"The notion that something might have been different in some way other than how it actually is - this is the root of modality."

"The rigidity of names means that 'Nixon might not have won' refers to a scenario where the actual person Nixon doesn't become president."

"The debate between essentialism and conventionalism about properties is a substantive metaphysical debate, not merely linguistic."

"The intuitions that guide our judgments about necessity and possibility deserve philosophical respect and systematic explanation."