The Overexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

Characters

If he'd dropped his lifelong belief just because someone came up with an objection, it's not just that you'd be surprised, to a certain degree you'd think Quine was irrational. We all begin our inquiries somewhere, with a large complex of presuppositions and convictions. We should all be open to cha…

— David Shatz, amazon.com

Why we believe what we believe Philosophy Religion

If you saw somebody trying to resolve a spat with a spouse by putting pen to paper and setting up numbered premises, you'd find it a crazy way to settle things, and maybe would also brand it as a tactic for fleeing the real issues. Only in philosophy does this sort of exactitude win an imprimatur; e…

— David Shatz, amazon.com

Why we believe what we believe Philosophy Religion

Only a mad person would want to conduct their life with complete, Spock-like logicality. We are possessed not of minds alone, but of hearts, emotions, needs, instincts, and habits; and we inhabit social contexts.

— David Shatz, amazon.com

Why we believe what we believe

In the sphere of religion, proofs for the existence of God don't always sway people into belief (the ontological argument of Anselm is notorious for not converting those who think it is sound); intellectual solutions to the problem of evil, however formidable, often fail to soothe the gut-level feel…

— David Shatz, amazon.com

Why we believe what we believe Philosophy Religion

When a philosopher publishes an article called 'Why There Are No People' (an actual title!), he invites a joke: Whom does he think he's writing for? Whom will he blame if he gets turned down for tenure?

— David Shatz, amazon.com

Why we believe what we believe Philosophy Religion

That nobody is really a skeptic -- even while philosophizing -- becomes clear if you watch what we philosophers do, not what we say.

— David Shatz, amazon.com

Why we believe what we believe Philosophy Religion

An assumption that lies behind the questions we religious philosophers get asked is that philosophers internalize the conclusions that their intellects draw -- and live by them. David Hume taught us otherwise. Hume was fascinated by the divorce between philosophy and practical life. In my study, he…

— David Shatz, amazon.com

Why we believe what we believe Philosophy Religion

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