Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy

by Simon Blackburn

Any confidence in a harmony between the way we take things to be, and the way they are, will seem to be a pure act of faith.

Always get rid of the idea of the private object in this way: assume that it constantly changes, but that you do not notice the change because your memory constantly deceives you.

‘I can make high waves (yes! in the sea during a storm), I can rush down hill (yes! in the river bed), I can plunge down foaming and gushing (yes! in the waterfall), I can rise freely as a stream of water into the air (yes! in the fountain), I can, finally, boil away and disappear (yes! at certain temperature); but I am doing none of these things

Aristotle rather desperately held that negligent people have actually chosen to make themselves negligent, perhaps in early childhood, and that this is the only reason they can be held responsible.

It is humiliating to have to appear like an empty tube, which is simply inflated by a mind.

We are often quite careless about how much change to tolerate while still regarding it as the same ‘thing’: witness the joke about the Irish axe which has been in the family for several generations, although it has had three new heads and five new handles.

In what respect, then, do his benevolence and mercy resemble the benevolence and mercy of men?

Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?

a nothing will serve just as well as a something about which nothing could be said.

(Why is God so jealous? Alas, might his jealousy be a projection of human sectarian ambitions and emotions? Either you are with us or against us!

one of our concerns is not to be deceived about whether our concerns are met.

whatever natural features of things we discern, it is always an ‘open question’ in what way we think that they form reasons for action.