Philosophy Quotes

Questions about meaning, existence, and truth from thinkers who spent their lives searching for answers.

43879 quotes

"Meaning emerges at the intersection of body and world."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"We are condemned to interpret ourselves and our world."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"The structure of expression mirrors the structure of being."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"Being is fundamentally mysterious and inexhaustible."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"Ambiguity is not a defect but a fundamental feature of being."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"Existence involves a perpetual negotiation with otherness."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"Being-in-the-world is not a relationship but a fundamental condition."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"We are beings who must continually interpret our own existence."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
"The body is not an object we have but the being we are."
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
W
"To be is to be the value of a variable"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"No entity without identity"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"The ontological commitments of a theory are what it presupposes as real"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Categories are human constructs"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Indeterminacy is fundamental to language"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Reference is not a simple relation"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"The web of belief forms a coherent whole"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Analytic truths rest on meaning alone"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Identity over time requires careful analysis"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Objects are bundles of properties"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Quantification reveals ontological commitment"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"The world does not come pre-packaged with meanings"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Every statement has truth conditions"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Abstract objects require justification"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Sets and classes pose ontological problems"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Translation is never perfect"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Meaning is determined by use in context"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Philosophy must be rigorous and precise"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Essentialism often misleads philosophy"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Universals present deep logical puzzles"
Willard Van Orman Quine
W
"Nominalism offers simpler ontological foundations"
Willard Van Orman Quine