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Single Idea 4148
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
]
Full Idea
What is your aim in philosophy? - To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.
Gist of Idea
What is your aim in philosophy? - To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle
Source
Ludwig Wittgenstein (Philosophical Investigations [1952], §309)
Book Ref
Wittgenstein,Ludwig: 'Philosophical Investigations', ed/tr. Anscombe,E. [Blackwell 1972], p.103
A Reaction
Ridiculous. Trying to think about thought is not a pointless buzzing - it is an attempt by humans to become like gods.
The
48 ideas
with the same theme
[view of the whole enterprise as hopeless]:
6321
|
Vulgar people are alert; I alone am muddled
[Laozi (Lao Tzu)]
|
5863
|
Reason is eternal, but men are foolish
[Heraclitus]
|
9283
|
Our ancient beliefs can never be overthrown by subtle arguments
[Euripides]
|
125
|
Is a gifted philosopher unmanly if he avoids the strife of the communal world?
[Plato]
|
2056
|
Philosophers are always switching direction to something more interesting
[Plato]
|
112
|
Most people are readier to submit to compulsion than to argument
[Aristotle]
|
7281
|
Don't even start, let's just stay put
[Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
|
8138
|
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy
[Paul]
|
23766
|
Don't be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, by cunning deceptive men
[Paul]
|
6814
|
Instead of prayer and charity, sinners pursue vain disputes and want their own personal scripture
[Mohammed]
|
8658
|
For there was never yet philosopher/ That could endure the toothache patiently
[Shakespeare]
|
6602
|
Philosophy is like a statue which is worshipped but never advances
[Bacon]
|
24032
|
Clever scholars can obscure things which are obvious even to peasants
[Descartes]
|
3601
|
Most things in human life seem vain and useless
[Descartes]
|
3602
|
Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher
[Descartes]
|
2196
|
The observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy
[Hume]
|
5635
|
In ordinary life the highest philosophy is no better than common understanding
[Kant]
|
22087
|
Philosophy fails to articulate the continual becoming of existence
[Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
|
20256
|
What we think is totally dictated by the language available to express it
[Nietzsche]
|
14854
|
Deep thinkers know that they are always wrong
[Nietzsche]
|
7167
|
Words such as 'I' and 'do' and 'done to' are placed at the point where our ignorance begins
[Nietzsche]
|
7196
|
Pessimism is laughable, because the world cannot be evaluated
[Nietzsche]
|
7137
|
Is a 'philosopher' now impossible, because knowledge is too vast for an overview?
[Nietzsche]
|
14876
|
Philosophy is always secondary, because it cannot support a popular culture
[Nietzsche]
|
14878
|
It would better if there was no thought
[Nietzsche]
|
14881
|
Why do people want philosophers?
[Nietzsche]
|
20107
|
How many mediocre thinkers are occupied with influential problems!
[Nietzsche]
|
21572
|
Philosophical disputes are mostly hopeless, because philosophers don't understand each other
[Russell]
|
18710
|
Philosophers express puzzlement, but don't clearly state the puzzle
[Wittgenstein]
|
4148
|
What is your aim in philosophy? - To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle
[Wittgenstein]
|
9810
|
The 'Tractatus' is a masterpiece of anti-philosophy
[Badiou on Wittgenstein]
|
23459
|
This work solves all the main problems, but that has little value
[Wittgenstein]
|
23512
|
Once you understand my book you will see that it is nonsensical
[Wittgenstein]
|
19618
|
I abandoned philosophy because it didn't acknowledge melancholy and human weakness
[Cioran]
|
19621
|
Originality in philosophy is just the invention of terms
[Cioran]
|
19607
|
The mind is superficial, only concerned with the arrangement of events, not their significance
[Cioran]
|
9245
|
To an absurd mind reason is useless, and there is nothing beyond reason
[Camus]
|
15970
|
People generalise because it is easier to understand, and that is mistaken for deep philosophy
[Feynman]
|
21893
|
Philosophy is necessarily metaphorical, and its writing is aesthetic
[Derrida]
|
19090
|
If we can't check our language against experience, philosophy is just comparing beliefs and words
[Rorty]
|
8047
|
Philosophy has been marginalised by its failure in the Enlightenment to replace religion
[MacIntyre]
|
12772
|
Philosophy is a value- and attitude-driven enterprise
[Fraassen]
|
2956
|
There is nothing so obvious that a philosopher cannot be found to deny it
[Lockwood]
|
9208
|
Philosophers with a new concept are like children with a new toy
[Fine,K]
|
18494
|
Using a technical vocabulary actually prevents discussion of the presuppositions
[Heil]
|
16227
|
Philosophers are good at denying the obvious
[Hawley]
|
9271
|
Human knowledge may not produce well-being; the examined life may not be worth living
[Gray]
|
6575
|
Philosophy may never find foundations, and may undermine our lives in the process
[Fogelin]
|