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Full Idea
Philosophy marks the limits of human theoretical intelligence. Philosophy is an attempt to overstep our cognitive bounds, a kind of magnificent failure.
Gist of Idea
Philosophy is a magnificent failure in its attempt to overstep the limits of our knowledge
Source
Colin McGinn (The Mysterious Flame [1999], p.209)
Book Ref
McGinn,Colin: 'The Mysterious Flame' [Basic Books 1999], p.209
A Reaction
No one attempts to overstep boundaries once they are confirmed as such. The magnificent attempts persist because failure is impossible to demonstrate (except, perhaps, by Gödel's Theorem).
| 2543 | Brains aren't made of anything special, suggesting panpsychism [McGinn] |
| 2544 | Thoughts have a dual aspect: as they seem to introspection, and their underlying logical reality [McGinn] |
| 2545 | Free will is mental causation in action [McGinn] |
| 2546 | Philosophy is a magnificent failure in its attempt to overstep the limits of our knowledge [McGinn] |
| 2547 | There is information if there are symbols which refer, and which can combine into a truth or falsehood [McGinn] |
| 2539 | Mental modules for language, social, action, theory, space, emotion [McGinn] |
| 2540 | Examining mind sees no brain; examining brain sees no mind [McGinn] |
| 2542 | Causation in the material world is energy-transfer, of motion, electricity or gravity [McGinn] |