Physicians think they do a lot for a patient when they give his disease a name.
That Logic has advanced in this sure course, even from the earliest times, is apparent from the fact that, since Aristotle, it has been unable to advance a step, and thus to all appearance has reached its completion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Kant suggests that logic has reached a point of stability since Aristotle, indicating a stagnation in its advancement.
In this quote, Immanuel Kant reflects on the progress of logic, noting that since the time of Aristotle, there has been little evolution in the foundational principles of logic. This observation implies that while logical thought has deepened and been refined over centuries, the core tenets established by Aristotle have remained largely unchallenged and unaltered, suggesting a point of intellectual maturity or completion in the field of logic.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing the evolution of thought, this quote can illustrate the concept of stagnation in logical reasoning.
More from Immanuel Kant
All quotes →The inscrutable wisdom through which we exist is not less worthy of veneration in respect to what it denies us than in respect to what it has granted.
One cannot avoid a certain feeling of disgust, when one observes the actions of man displayed on the great stage of the world. Wisdom is manifested by individuals here and there; but the web of human history as a whole appears to be woven from folly and childish vanity, often, too, from puerile wickedness and love of destruction: with the result that at the end one is puzzled to know what idea to form of our species which prides itself so much on its advantages.
I shall never forget my mother, for it was she who planted and nurtured the first seeds of good within me. She opened my heart to the lasting impressions of nature; she awakened my understanding and extended my horizon and her percepts exerted an everlasting influence upon the course of my life.
. . . as to moral feeling, this supposed special sense, the appeal to it is indeed superficial when those who cannot think believe that feeling will help them out, even in what concerns general laws: and besides, feelings which naturally differ infinitely in degree cannot furnish a uniform standard of good and evil, nor has any one a right to form judgments for others by his own feelings. . . .
Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
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Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.
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