After two years of undergraduate study, it was clear that I was bored by the regime of problem-solving required by the Cambridge mathematical tripos. A very sensitive mathematics don recommended that I talk to the historian of astronomy, Michael Hoskin, and the conversation led me to enroll in the History and Philosophy of Science for my final undergraduate year.

Philip Kitcher

More Quotes by Philip Kitcher
Categorized in : YearsTwoPhilosophy
More Quotes From Philip Kitcher

It's a very bad idea for scientific conclusions to be accepted because they fit with the political values of a group of researchers.

Philip Kitcher
groupspoliticalideas

It is hard to hide our genes completely. However devoted someone may be to the privacy of his genotype, others with enough curiosity and knowledge can draw conclusions from the phenotype he presents and from the traits of his relatives.

Philip Kitcher
curiosityscienceknowledge
I believe that the arts make indispensable contributions to our u... by Philip Kitcher

I believe that the arts make indispensable contributions to our understanding.

Philip Kitcher
understandingbelieveart

I'm very suspicious of the idea of a "final theory" in natural science, and the thought of a complete system of ethical rules seems even more dubious.

Philip Kitcher
dubiousfinalsideas

It may be hyperbolic to declare that Shakespeare teaches us more about being human than all the natural scientists combined.

Philip Kitcher
scientistbeing-humanmay

Anxieties about ourselves endure. If our proper study is indeed the study of humankind, then it has seemed-and still seems-to many that the study is dangerous. Perhaps we shall find out that we were not what we took ourselves to be. But if the historical development of science has indeed sometimes pricked our vanity, it has not plunged us into an abyss of immorality. Arguably, it has liberated us from misconceptions, and thereby aided us in our moral progress.

Philip Kitcher
vanityanxietyhistorical

I would like to undermine the stereotype of "strict philosophy." J.L. Austin remarked that, when philosophy is done well, it's all over by the bottom of the first page. I take him to have meant that the real work comes in setting up the problem with which you are dealing, and thus getting your reader to take particular things for granted.

Philip Kitcher
austinrealphilosophy

One goal of ethical inquiry might be to uncover strategies available for use when values conflict or when rules are incomplete.

Philip Kitcher
inquirygoaluse

The theory of evolution explains to us what our ancestry has been. It does not explain away our worth. Why should we be afraid to learn more about what we are?

Philip Kitcher
theory-of-evolutionancestrydoe

My ethical naturalism sees us as facing the predicament of being social animals without evolved adaptations that make social life easy. The fundamental problem that sparks the ethical project lies in our limited responsiveness to one another. The only way we have to address that problem is through a representative, informed, and engaged conversation.

Philip Kitcher
fundamentalsanimallying

Refined religion is aimed at realizing ethical values, including the fostering of human lives and human communities.

Philip Kitcher
ethicalrealizingcommunity

Most influential of all is the philosopher Stanley Cavell, and a younger generation of philosophers who have attempted to follow his pioneering work in thinking about literature philosophically.

Philip Kitcher
generationsliteraturethinking

I take the ethical truths to be the stable elements that emerge out of ethical progress and that are retained under further ethical progress.

Philip Kitcher
ethicalprogresselements

It's not at all a bad idea for scientific questions to be chosen because a democratic deliberation would identify them as important for people's lives.

Philip Kitcher
importantpeopleideas

I don't think that anything of any consequence is known a priori: all our knowledge is built up by modifying the lore passed on to us by our ancestors in light of our experiences, and the best a philosopher can do is to learn as much about what has been discovered in various empirical fields, and use it to try to craft an improved synthesis.

Philip Kitcher
lighttryingthinking

Philosophers ought to aspire to know lots of different things and to forge useful synthetic perspectives.

Philip Kitcher
philosopherperspectivedifferent

Philosophy by showing - including philosophy in literature - does truly valuable work in leading us to new perspectives from which our arguments can then begin. It does so by introducing new synthetic complexes, which we then reflect on from various points of view. When the complexes survive and grow, that initial showing has been philosophically decisive.

Philip Kitcher
introducing-newviewsphilosophy

The "little theme" from Vinteuil, heard by Swann as emblematic of his love for Odette, remains a point of reference for him, as the character of that love changes and as the love eventually fades.

Philip Kitcher
his-lovelittlescharacter

Science literacy consists in the ability and the desire to follow reports of new scientific advances, throughout your whole life.

Philip Kitcher
literacyabilitydesire
In ethics, we don't make progress by discovering pre-existent tru... by Philip Kitcher

In ethics, we don't make progress by discovering pre-existent truths; we do so by solving problems.

Philip Kitcher
ethicsprogressproblem