display all the ideas for this combination of philosophers
3 ideas
| 24194 | Wanting new discoveries blocks good thinking about what has been discovered [Weil] |
| Full Idea: The desire to discover something new prevents people from allowing their thoughts to dwell on the transcendent, undemonstrable meaning of what has already been discovered. | |
| From: Simone Weil (Gravity and Grace [1942], 'Intelligence') | |
| A reaction: Struck a strong chord with me. The principal motivation for this collection of ideas. I am generally a pessimistic about future discoveries of anything other than new gadgets. We may be at the end of a two century golden age. Time to consolidate. |
| 24195 | Don't reject opinions; arrange them all in a hierarchy [Weil] |
| Full Idea: We have not to choose between opinions. We have to welcome them all, but arrange them vertically, placing them on suitable levels. | |
| From: Simone Weil (Gravity and Grace [1942], 'Intelligence') | |
| A reaction: What a brilliant thought. Relativists and non-relativists might even unite around that vision. |
| 23888 | Knowledge is beyond question, as an unavoidable component of thinking [Weil] |
| Full Idea: The speaker refuses to pose the question of knowledge, since knowledge is a given that is mixed with thought, and that no thinking being can get away from. | |
| From: Simone Weil (Philosophy [1941], p.42) | |
| A reaction: On the whole I favour belief-first, but I take the primary purpose of minds to be navigation, and that needs facts, not hopeful beliefs. Weil's thought pushes me a bit towards the knowledge first view. |