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The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments.
William James
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Philosophy often reflects the diverse personalities and emotional perspectives of its thinkers.

This quote by William James suggests that the development of philosophical ideas is not just an abstract pursuit of knowledge but is deeply intertwined with the unique temperaments and emotional dispositions of the philosophers themselves. The varying personalities of thinkers lead to different interpretations and conflicts in philosophical thought, showcasing how human emotions and character shape intellectual discourse.

Themes

PhilosophyHuman TemperamentsEmotionsIntellectClash

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on philosophy, one might say, 'As William James noted, the history of philosophy reveals the interplay of diverse human temperaments.'

More from William James

Many persons nowadays seem to think that any conclusion must be very scientific if the arguments in favor of it are derived from twitching of frogs' legs (especially if the frogs are decapitated) and that, on the other hand, any doctrine chiefly vouched for by the feelings of human beings (with heads on their shoulders) must be benighted and superstitious.
William JamesRead
The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
William JamesRead
All the higher, more penetrating ideals are revolutionary. They present themselves far less in the guise of effects of past experience than in that of probable causes of future experience, factors to which the environment and the lessons it has so far taught us must learn to bend.
William JamesRead
The lunatic's visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact. Our civilization is founded on the shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony.
William JamesRead
It is astonishing how many mental operations we can explain when we have once grasped the principles of association
William JamesRead
As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.
William JamesRead

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