more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 7653

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 4. Metaphysics as Science ]

Full Idea

'Tis ambition enough to be employed as an under-labourer in clearing ground a little, and removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way to knowledge.

Gist of Idea

I am just an under-labourer, clearing the ground in preparation for knowledge

Source

John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], Epistle)

Book Ref

Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.10

A Reaction

A famous statement of the new humility of empirical philosophy, which defers to science as the great advancer of knowledge. Personally I view scientists as under-labourers, who discover the physical facts which are needed for wisdom.

The 25 ideas with the same theme [metaphysics as physical science at the highest level]:

12123 Natural history supports physical knowledge, which supports metaphysical knowledge [Bacon]
21962 Metaphysics is the roots of the tree of science [Descartes]
7653 I am just an under-labourer, clearing the ground in preparation for knowledge [Locke]
16710 Leibniz tried to combine mechanistic physics with scholastic metaphysics [Leibniz, by Pasnau]
21366 Metaphysics must understand the world thoroughly, as a principal source of knowledge [Schopenhauer]
14799 Metaphysics rests on observations, but ones so common we hardly notice them [Peirce]
21582 Physicists accept particles, points and instants, while pretending they don't do metaphysics [Russell]
6095 The business of metaphysics is to describe the world [Russell]
22153 Quine rejects Carnap's view that science and philosophy are distinct [Quine, by Boulter]
22438 Philosophy is largely concerned with finding the minimum that science could get by with [Quine]
6891 Quine's naturalistic and empirical view is based entirely on first-order logic and set theory [Quine, by Mautner]
15477 Ontology is highly abstract physics, containing placeholders and exclusions [Martin,CB]
15670 The aim of 'post-metaphysical' philosophy is to interpret the sciences [Habermas, by Finlayson]
13567 Ontology should give insight into or an explanation of the world revealed by science [Ellis]
4194 Metaphysics is concerned with the fundamental structure of reality as a whole [Lowe]
14977 Metaphysics is not about what exists or is true or essential; it is about the structure of reality [Sider]
14994 Extreme doubts about metaphysics also threaten to undermine the science of unobservables [Sider]
16241 The metaphysics of nature should focus on physics [Maudlin]
14904 Metaphysics builds consilience networks across science [Ladyman/Ross]
14907 Progress in metaphysics must be tied to progress in science [Ladyman/Ross]
14908 Metaphysics must involve at least two scientific hypotheses, one fundamental, and add to explanation [Ladyman/Ross]
14910 Some science is so general that it is metaphysical [Ladyman/Ross]
14940 Cutting-edge physics has little to offer metaphysics [Ladyman/Ross]
14945 The aim of metaphysics is to unite the special sciences with physics [Ladyman/Ross]
22138 Science rests on scholastic metaphysics, not on Hume, Kant or Carnap [Boulter]