#metaphysics

... It is possible to be a meta-physician without believing in a transcendent reality; for we shall see that many metaphysical utterances are due to the commission of logical errors, rather than to a conscious desire on the part of their authors to go beyond the limits of experience. ↗

— A.J. Ayer

#experience

In the pragmatist, streetwise climate of advanced postmodern capitalism, with its scepticism of big pictures and grand narratives, its hard-nosed disenchantment with the metaphysical, 'life' is one among a whole series of discredited totalities. We are invited to think small rather than big – ironically, at just the point when some of those out to destroy Western civilization are doing exactly the opposite. In the conflict between Western capitalism and radical Islam, a paucity of belief squares up to an excess of it. The West finds itself faced with a full-blooded metaphysical onslaught at just the historical point that it has, so to speak, philosophically disarmed. As far as belief goes, postmodernism prefers to travel light: it has beliefs, to be sure, but it does not have faith. ↗

— Terry Eagleton

#belief #capitalism #faith #grand-narratives #islam

Can all this just be an accident? Or could there be some alien intelligence behind it? ↗

— Gene Rodenberry

#philosophy #intelligence

Don't live by my words, don't die by them, chew them slowly digest them, and smile if they give nourishment to your soul. ↗

— Stanley Victor Paskavich

#life #metaphysics #peace #revelation #tranquility

Passion presented with a greater challenge achieves a greater goal. -- from The Sexual Side of Spirituality ↗

— Aberjhani

#metaphysics #passion #sexuality #spirituality #life

There are mystical, unbreakable bonds between all members of the natural world including humans and animals. Whether or not we remember or acknowledge this relatedness, it still exists. ↗

— Elizabeth Eiler

#metaphysics #nature #nature

The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without: to follow one's own path, not that of the crowd. ↗

— Nicholas Tharcher

#metaphysics #philosophy #acting

Algebra is the metaphysics of arithmetic. ↗

— John Ray

#arithmetic #metaphysics

Ancient metaphysics underwent many changes at the hands of medieval thinkers who brought it in line with the dominant religious and theological movements of their day. ↗

— Wilhelm Dilthey

#brought #changes #day #dominant #hands

However, the sciences of society and of history retained their old subservient relation to metaphysics for a long time - well into the eighteenth century. ↗

— Wilhelm Dilthey

#eighteenth #eighteenth century #history #however #into