My principal motive is the belief that we can still make admirable sense of our lives even if we cease to have... an ambition of transcendence.
Richard RortyRead
The world does not speak. Only we do. The world can, once we have programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other human beings can do that.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Language is a human construct, and our beliefs are shaped by it rather than by the world itself.
This quote by Richard Rorty emphasizes the idea that language is a uniquely human tool that shapes our beliefs and perceptions of the world. While the world itself is silent and does not offer a language, it is through communication with others that we come to understand and articulate our experiences. Thus, the essence of our beliefs is influenced by our interactions and the languages we adopt.
Themes
LanguageBeliefsCommunicationHumanityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of language in shaping our thoughts.
More from Richard Rorty
All quotes →To say that truth is not out there is simply to say that where there are no sentences there is no truth, that sentences are elements of human languages, and that languages are human creations.~ The suggestion that truth~ is out there is a legacy of an age in which the world was seen as the creation of a being who had a language his own.
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Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.
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National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement.
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A talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well is the chief instrument of cultural change.
Richard RortyRead
There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves.
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