Читать книгу Philosophy For Dummies - Tom Morris - Страница 45

Great minds have always commented on our tendency to form beliefs even when there is no good evidence to think they are true.

It is natural for the mind to believe, and for the will to love; so that, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to false.

— Blaise Pascal (1663 – 1662)

Men freely believe that which they desire.

— Julius Caesar (100 – 44 BCE)

Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.

— Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)

We are born believing. A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)

Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.

— Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)

Each man’s belief is right in his own eyes.

— William Cowper (1731 – 1800)

The greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinions than that they are in fashion.

— Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784)

Logic can’t lead us all the way in life. But logic, or the universal laws of reliable thought, can indeed keep us more closely aligned with reality if our perceptions themselves are in tune with the way the world really is. As philosopher Jean de La Bruyère remarked centuries ago: “Logic is the art of making truth prevail.” Logic alone can’t turn a dead fish into a diamond. But it can take us from diamonds to more diamonds. It can display the interconnections of truth.