Confusion of sign and object is original sin coeval with the word.
Willard Van Orman QuineRead
It is one of the consolations of philosophy that the benefit of showing how to dispense with a concept does not hinge on dispensing with it.
Interpretation
Philosophy can help us understand and manage concepts without needing to abandon them entirely.
This quote by Willard Van Orman Quine reflects a foundational aspect of philosophical inquiry: the ability to analyze and even set aside certain concepts without losing their value or utility. Philosophy provides tools for understanding complex ideas, allowing us to see their shortcomings and re-evaluate their importance in our lives, thus giving us consolation and clarity in thought.
In practice
During a philosophy class discussion on the nature of knowledge and belief.
Confusion of sign and object is original sin coeval with the word.
Science is not a substitute for common sense, but an extension of it.
For me the problem of induction is a problem about the world: a problem of how we, as we are now (by our present scientific lights), in a world we never made, should stand better than random, or coin-tossing chances changes of coming out right when we predict by inductions. . . .
Language is conceived in sin and science is its redemption.
Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.
Creatures inveterately wrong in their inductions have a pathetic but praise-worthy tendency to die before reproducing their kind.
The positive aspects of modernity are to be acknowledged unreservedly: we are all grateful for the marvellous possibilities that it has opened up for mankind and for the progress in humanity that has been granted to us.
My only fear of death is reincarnation
I feel that if I kept it secret it might grow in my mind (as poisonous things grow in the dark) and take its place with the other terrible thoughts that gnaw me
Suddenly Yankel was overcome with a fear of dying, stronger than he felt when his parents passed of natural causes, stronger than when his only brother was killed in the flour mill or when his children died, stronger even than when he was a child and it first occurred to him that he must try to understand what it could mean not to be alive -- to be not in darkness, not in unfeeling -- to be not being, not to be.
It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.
The intention to live as long as possible isn't one of the mind's best intentions, because quantity isn't the same as quality.
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