J. J. C. Smart famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

For emotional reasons, connected with my affection for my parents, I was a reluctant atheist, but giving up religion brought peace of mind because intellectual conflict was resolved.
-- J. J. C. Smart

#Atheist #Giving Up #Emotional
Indeterminism does not confer freedom on us: I would feel that my freedom was impaired if I thought that a quantum mechanical trigger in my brain might cause me to leap into the garden and eat a slug
-- J. J. C. Smart

#Garden #Brain #Doe
An important tradition within westren philosophy believes in the primacy of natural science as a guide to truth. This is sometimes met with the charge that such an allegiance amounts to scientism - the view that the only things that really exist are those recognized by fundamental physical theory, and that the only forms of genuine knowledge are scientific ones.
-- J. J. C. Smart

#Philosophy #Believe #Views

I am not agnostic. I am atheist. I donâ€™t think there is no God; I know thereâ€™s no God. I know thereâ€™s no God the same way I know many other laws in our universe. I know thereâ€™s no God and I know most of the world knows that as well. They just wonâ€™t admit it because thereâ€™s another thing they know. They know theyâ€™re going to die and it freaks them out. So most people donâ€™t have the courage to admit thereâ€™s no God and they know it. They feel it. They try to suppress it. And if you bring it up they get angry because it freaks them out.
Atheists have just as much of a right to the public discourse as any ... people of any religious faith in this country.
I affirm my faith when I'm asked about it. But I always try to do so in a way that communicates absolute respect, not only for people who worship in a different way, but just as much respect for those who do not believe in God and who are atheists.
They all err - Muslims, Christians, Jews and Magians. There are two kinds of humans - the intelligent, who have no religion, and the religious, who have no intellect.
But when we find that one person who completes us, we don't give up. No matter how bad we screw up. We make it right.
We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us.
Don't just give up, Hachiko. Life is about getting knocked down over and over, but still getting up each time. If you keep getting up, you win.
As applied to substance abuse, the cognitive approach helps individuals to come to grips with the problems leading to emotional distress and to gain a broader perspective on their reliance on drugs for pleasure and/or relief from discomfort.
Of course, even the general designation 'religious' includes various basic ideas or convictions, for example, the indestructibility of the soul, the eternity of its existence, the existence of a higher being, etc. But all these ideas, regardless of how convincing they may be for the individual, are submitted to the critical examination of this individual and hence to a fluctuating affirmation or negation until emotional divination or knowledge assumes the binding force of apodictic faith.
Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic objects or material goods in fact seems critically dependent on our first satisfying a more important range of emotional or psychological needs, among them the need for understanding, for love, expression and respect.

J. J. C. Smart famous quotes

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