What great philosophers do for us is not to hand out such an all-purpose system. It is to light up and clarify some special aspect of life, to supply conceptual tools which will do a certain necessary kind of work. Wide though that area of work may be, it is never the whole, and all ideas lose their proper power when they are used out of their appropriate context. That is why one great philosopher does not necessarily displace another, why there is room for all of them and a great many more whom we do not have yet. . Mary Midgley
About This Quote

Friedrich Nietzsche believed that there was a place for all philosophers because their work helped to illuminate the general truths of human existence. But, he also believed that each philosopher’s work would serve a very specific purpose and would not be as effective as it could be if it were used outside of that specific purpose.

Source: The Myths We Live By

Some Similar Quotes
  1. A day without laughter is a day wasted. - Nicolas Chamfort
  2. You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts. - Kahlil Gibran
  3. One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and... - Stephen Hawking
  4. There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. - William Shakespeare
  5. You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it. - Malcolm X
More Quotes By Mary Midgley
  1. The symbolism of meat-eating is never neutral. To himself, the meat-eater seems to be eating life. To the vegetarian, he seems to be eating death. There is a kind of gestalt-shift between the two positions which makes it hard to change, and hard to raise...
  2. What great philosophers do for us is not to hand out such an all-purpose system. It is to light up and clarify some special aspect of life, to supply conceptual tools which will do a certain necessary kind of work. Wide though that area of...
  3. None of us can study anything properly unless we do it with our whole being.
  4. Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started.
  5. By contrast, if one conceives the idea of human rights as centring on the notion that each individual is completely autonomous and should have entire control over its own fate, this seems to me unrealistic even for human beings, and far too one-sided to be...
Related Topics