Lactantius Quotes

Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct; but to find these reasons is no less an instinct.

It is right that we be concerned with the scientific probity of metaphysics.

If somebody is going to try to paste a person's view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. Don't give me Ayn Rand.

I don't think there's an interesting boundary between philosophy and science. Science is totally beholden to philosophy. There are philosophical assumptions in science and there's no way to get around that.

To me, what philosophy does best is reflect on knowledge that's generated in other areas.

Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.

It has been said that metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct.

I discovered philosophy in my youth when I read 'wildly,' and thus I was exposed to the world of ideas.

You can't do without philosophy, since everything has its hidden meaning which we must know.

When it comes to the real operational issues that govern our understanding of physical reality, ontological definitions of classical philosophers are, in my opinion, sterile.

Truth as such is not a particularly important concept in naturalistic philosophy.

About no subject is there less philosophizing than about philosophy.

First, philosophy concerns itself with all kinds of issues that don't get much airtime in day-to-day life. What's the nature of reality? Can we ever truly know anything, and if so, how? What does it mean to be a moral agent? And while we're at it, is there any such thing as agency anyway?

Since Plato, we have been considering the nature of knowledge, the meaning of meaning and the status of the physical world.

Philosophy was once considered science.

Philosophy is altogether less pure now. It's been impurified by science and social science and history.

I bought some books in order to learn the first principles of philosophy.

It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.

Philosophy wasn't about facts, it was about ideas. My first essay title was something like: 'How can you know what other people are thinking?' I thought, 'Wow, what an amazing thing.' I really thought deeply for the first time.

Well, I don't know if I can comment on Kant or Hegel because I'm no real philosopher in the sense of knowing what these people have said in any detail so let me not comment on that too much.

Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck.

I think that reality exists and that it's knowable.

Philosophy begins in wonder.

Young children are naturally so philosophical. They ask: 'What is real? What is truth?' They have to learn it; they don't automatically know it. To them, it's a game. You can study this for years in college, and yet you probably asked it when you were four or five years old.

Metaphysics is a science.