Wisdom Quotes

"Identity conditions tell us what it takes for something to remain itself."

"Grounding is more fundamental than causation; it explains all relations of dependence."

"The world is not a brute fact; it exhibits intelligible structure and order."

"Parthood is not conventional; natural joints in nature determine real parts."

"Unity without uniformity is possible; difference can coexist with coherence."

"We must distinguish between the sense of a term and its referent in logical analysis."

"Our naive intuitions about language often mislead us about how it actually functions."

"The way we talk about things reveals something important about how we understand them."

"The essence of something may not be evident from its ordinary description."

"Some questions that seem deep are really confused questions poorly formulated."

"We should trust our rational faculties when carefully applied to philosophical problems."

"We often mistake conceptual puzzles for metaphysical mysteries."

"Rational analysis can dissolve many philosophical problems if pursued carefully."

"Knowledge requires not just true belief, but proper causal connection to reality."

"The self is not a simple thing but a complex bundle of properties and relations."

"Some metaphysical questions lack determinate answers despite our intuitions."

"The relationship between properties and predicates is not straightforward."

"Philosophy should begin with puzzlement about what we thought we understood."

"To live well requires understanding both oneself and one's place in the world."

"Philosophical progress often consists in recognizing that an apparent problem dissolves."

"Clarity in thinking requires precision in language."

"The world is more flexible in its interpretation than our settled intuitions suggest."

"We should be cautious about claiming necessary truths about contingent matters."

"We are more rational than we typically realize in our everyday thinking."

"Our understanding of the world develops through reflective engagement with it."

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."

"The meaning of a word is its use in the language."

"The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity."

"A man can be very intelligent and yet be neurotic and confused."

"The work of the philosopher consists in marshalling reminders for a particular purpose."