J. L. Mackie famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists. There seems to be some contradiction between these three propositions, so that if any two of them were true the third would be false. But at the same time all three are essential parts of most theological positions: the theologian it seems, at once must adhere and cannot consistently adhere to all three.
-- J. L. Mackie

#Two #Evil #Essentials
...it is absurd to try to confine our knowledge and belief to matters which are conclusively established by sound deductive arguments. The demand for certainty will inevitably be disappointed, leaving skepticism in command of almost every issue.
-- J. L. Mackie

#Philosophical #Issues #Leaving
There are no objective values.
-- J. L. Mackie

#Values
I myself find it hard to accept the notion of self-creation from nothing, even given unrestricted chance.
-- J. L. Mackie

#Self #Atheism #Chance
The balance of probabilities, therefore, comes out strongly against the existence of a god.
-- J. L. Mackie

#Balance #Existence #Probability
If we do take statements to be the primary bearers of truth, there seems to be a very simple answer to the question, what is it for them to be true: for a statement to be true is for things to be as they are stated to be.
-- J. L. Mackie

#Truth #Simple #Answers

If there is any way you can get colder than you do when you sleep in a bedding roll on the ground in a tent in southern Tunisia two hours before dawn, I don't know about it.
My co-founder Dylan Smith and I left our junior year of college to move to the Bay Area. To the horror of our friends' parents, we actually had two other friends drop out of college to work on the product. The four of us were just working non-stop growing Box.
Any time you get two people in a room who disagree about anything, the time of day, there is a scene to be written. That's what I look for.
I think there are two ways to depict a family. One is what it's really like, and one is what the audience would like it to be. Between you and me, I think the second one is what I would prefer.
There is a certain indolence in us, a wish not to be disturbed, which tempts us to think that when things are quiet, all is well. Subconsciously, we tend to give the preference to 'social peace,' though it be only apparent, because our lives and possessions seem then secure. Actually, human beings acquiesce too easily in evil conditions; they rebel far too little and too seldom. There is nothing noble about acquiescence in a cramped life or mere submission to superior force.
Needless, heedless, wanton and deliberate injury of the sort inflicted by Life's picture story is not an essential instrument of responsible journalism.
In order to persuade Britain to pack up, to compel her to make peace, it was essential to rob her of her hope of being able still to confront us, on the continent itself, with an adversary of a stature equal to our own.
the labors of the true critic are more essential to the author, even, than to the reader.
There can be no question of masking the evidence, of suppressing the absurd by denying one of the terms of its equation. It is essential to know whether one can live with it or whether, on the other hand, logic commands one to die of it.
Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.

J. L. Mackie famous quotes

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