Martha Nussbaum Quotes

Logic works, metaphysics contemplates.

The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners.

Philosophy likes to keen common sense on the run.

The true function of philosophy is to educate us in the principles of reasoning and not to put an end to further reasoning by the introduction of fixed conclusions.

Logic is the last scientific ingredient of Philosophy; its extraction leaves behind only a confusion of non-scientific, pseudo problems.

[Logic and philosophy] were of no use, in the church or the state, in the cloister or the court, in peace or war, at home or abroad or anywhere but in the schools

Every single university student should study philosophy. You need to lead the examined life and question your beliefs. If you don't learn critical thinking, then political debate degenerates into a contest of slogans.

Philosophy may describe unreasoning, as it may describe force; it cannot hope to refute them.

Like all religions, Reason presents itself as the solution to the problems it has created

Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking.

Logic is neither an art nor a science but a dodge.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

There is no philosophy without the art of ignoring objections.

You've never seen me debate anybody. On anything. Ever. My investment of time, as an educator, in my judgment, is best served teaching people how to think about the world around them. Teach them how to pose a question. How to judge whether one thing is true versus another. What the laws of physics say.

First, he must hold rational values, and to do this he must be a thinker.

Logic is not a body of doctrine, but a mirror-image of the world. Logic is transcendental.

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.

I enjoy a good reasoned argument. I love the power of logic.

Finding bad reasons for what one believes for other bad reasons - that's philosophy.

Logic is the art of making truth prevail.

Logic is a wonderful invention. It is so wonderful, people often mistake it for reason. Reason, however, requires sense. Logic requires only consistency.

Philosophy ought to question the basic assumptions of the age. Thinking through, critically and carefully, what most of us take for granted is, I believe, the chief task of philosophy, and the task that makes philosophy a worthwhile activity.

Philosophy unravels the knots in our thinking; hence its results must be simple, but its activity is as complicated as the knots that it unravels.

The Greeks invented logic but were not fooled by it.

Critical thinking is to a liberal education as faith is to religion. ... the converse was true also - faith is to a liberal education as critical thinking is to religion, irrelevant and even damaging.