Simon Blackburn Quotes

• Chance is as relentless as necessity.

  Simon Blackburn

  Chance, Relentless, Chances Are

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.60, Oxford University Press

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• We can grieve over lost powers and memories, or rejoice over gained knowledge and maturity, according to taste.

  Simon Blackburn

  Memories, Maturity, Grieving

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.101, Oxford University Press

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• Contemporary culture is not very good on responsibility.

  Simon Blackburn

  Responsibility, Culture, Very Good

  "Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy". Book by Simon Blackburn, 1999.

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• A god that created the world and then walked off the site leaving it to its own devices is not a fit object of worship, nor a source of moral authority.

  Simon Blackburn

  Leaving, World, Moral

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.117, Oxford University Press

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• Perhaps to restore human freedom we should deny determinism ?

  Simon Blackburn

  Deny, Should, Determinism

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.60, Oxford University Press

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• There are normal times when it is wholly admirable to be steadfast, resolute, unconflicted, and therefore when integrity is unmistakenly a virtue. The person of integrity knows what to do, and does it. But as we have been exploring, there are also times when certainty and single-mindedness indicate something less admirable: a deafness to voices that should be heard or a blindness to aspects of a situation that need to be considered.

  Simon Blackburn

  Integrity, Voice, Doe

  Simon Blackburn (2014). “Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love”, p.173, Princeton University Press

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• The word " philosophy " carries unfortunate connotations: impractical, unworldly, weird.

  Simon Blackburn

  Philosophy, Connotation, Unfortunate

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.6, Oxford University Press

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• Thoughts are strange things. they have 'representational' powers: a thought typically represents the world as being one way or another. A sensation, by contrast, seems to just sit there.

  Simon Blackburn

  World, Way, Strange

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.55, Oxford University Press

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• The gods we make in our own image are tribal gods. They tell you how very, very little you should tolerate outsiders, who are less favoured of the Lord. Amazingly, there are no recorded cases of the holy man going up the mountain and finding that it's the others who are right. It always turns out that God wants unbelievers to suffer, and what could be more noble than to help him a little? When religion rules, toleration disappears, for you cannot cherish the verdict of death to the infidels, yet also tolerate those who disagree - for those are the very same infidels.

  Simon Blackburn

  Men, Suffering, Mountain

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• Since there is no telling in advance where it may lead, reflection can be seen as dangerous .

  Simon Blackburn

  Reflection, May, Dangerous

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.12, Oxford University Press

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• Nobody ever inferred from the multiple infirmities of Windows that Bill Gates was infinitely benevolent, omniscient, and able to fix everything.

  Simon Blackburn

  Bills, Able, Window

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.118, Oxford University Press

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• Why should thinkers mock the simple pieties of the people?

  Simon Blackburn

  Simple, People, Should

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.132, Oxford University Press

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• It can seem an amazing fact that laws of nature keep on holding, that the frame of nature does not fall apart.

  Simon Blackburn

  Fall, Law, Doe

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.113, Oxford University Press

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• This doctrine, that of the ghost in the machine, strictly separates the mind or soul from the body. And by doing so it takes the soul outside the sphere of mechanical or scientific explanation. It splits the world of the mind from the world of science. It is often supposed to protect our cherished free will.

  Simon Blackburn

  Soul, Mind, Machines

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• People who have cut their teeth on philosophical problems of rationality, knowledge, perception, free will and other minds are well placed to think better about problems of evidence, decision making, responsibility and ethics that life throws up.

  Simon Blackburn

  Philosophical, Responsibility, Cutting

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• There may be rhetoric about the socially constructed nature of Western science, but wherever it matters, there is no alternative. There are no specifically Hindu or Taoist designs for mobile phones, faxes or televisions. There are no satellites based on feminist alternatives to quantum theory. Even that great public sceptic about the value of science, Prince Charles, never flies a helicopter burning homeopathically diluted petrol, that is, water with only a memory of benzine molecules, maintained by a schedule derived from reading tea leaves, and navigated by a crystal ball.

  Simon Blackburn

  Memories, Reading, Tea Leaves

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• An ethic gone wrong is an essential preliminary to the sweat shop or the concentration camp and the death march.

  Simon Blackburn

  Sweat, Essentials, Gone

  Simon Blackburn (2003). “Ethics: A Very Short Introduction”, p.22, OUP Oxford

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• If our best efforts come to nothing often enough, we need consolation, and thoughts of unfolding, infinite destiny, or karma , are sometimes consoling.

  Simon Blackburn

  Karma, Destiny, Best Effort

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.81, Oxford University Press

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• Myself, I have never seen a bumper sticker saying " Hate if you Love Jesus ", but I sometimes wonder why not. It would be a good slogan for the religious Right.

  Simon Blackburn

  Religious, Jesus, Hate

  Simon Blackburn (1999). “Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy”, p.133, Oxford University Press

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• Paradigms can be asked to show their worth, an some of them do not stand up.

  Simon Blackburn

  Shows, Paradigm

  "Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy". Book by Simon Blackburn, 1999.

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• The fantasist in whom the reality barrier has broken down is unreliable, believing things when he should not, and telling things as true when they are not.

  Simon Blackburn

  Believe, Reality, Broken

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• The absolutist parades his good solid grounding in observation, reason, objectivity, truth and fact; the relativist sees only fetishes.

  Simon Blackburn

  Objectivity, Absolutism, Facts

  Simon Blackburn (2005). “Truth: A Guide”, p.15, Oxford University Press

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• The absolutist trumpets his plain vision; the relativist sees only someone who is unaware of his own spectacles.

  Simon Blackburn

  Vision, Absolutism, Trumpets

  Simon Blackburn (2005). “Truth: A Guide”, p.15, Oxford University Press

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• The absolutist takes himself to speak to the ages, with the tongue of angels, but the relativist hears only one version among others, the subjectivity of the here and now.

  Simon Blackburn

  Angel, Age, Absolutism

  Simon Blackburn (2005). “Truth: A Guide”, p.15, Oxford University Press

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• Wittgenstein imagined that the philosopher was like a therapist whose task was to put problems finally to rest, and to cure us ofbeing bewitched by them. So we are told to stop, to shut off lines of inquiry, not to find things puzzling nor to seek explanations. This is intellectual suicide.

  Simon Blackburn

  Suicide, Philosophical, Intellectual

  Simon Blackburn (1993). “Essays in Quasi-Realism”, p.51, Oxford University Press

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