Alain Quotes on Knowledge
Émile Chartier (1868–1951), who wrote under the pen name Alain, gave early-twentieth-century French philosophy its most sustained reaffirmation of Cartesian and Kantian rationalism in the form of the propos — the daily two-page philosophical column composed for nearly two decades for the Dépêche de Rouen and other journals. The corresponding doctrine of judgment — that perception itself involves an act of will, and that the cultivation of correct judgment is the principal work of the philosophical life — runs through the major collected volumes (the Propos sur le bonheur, the Système des beaux-arts, the Idées, the Éléments de philosophie). The framework shaped a generation of French thought through its central place in the lycée curriculum.
Quotes
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Attributed to Alain:
“The only enemy of philosophy is laziness of thought.”
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Attributed to Alain:
“What we believe shapes what we see, and what we see shapes what we believe.”
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“I think where people tend to end up results from a combination of encouragement, accident, and lucky break, etc. etc. Like many others, my career happened like it did because certain doors opened and certain doors closed. You know, at a certain point I thought it would be great to make film documentaries. Well, in fact, I found that to be incredibly hard and very expensive to do and I didn’t reall”
As quoted in "The Art of Connection – A Conversation with Alain de Botton" by Kim Nagy in Wild River Review (19 November 2007). -
“Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval.”
Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 7. -
“Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 7.”
Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval. -
“It would scarcely be acceptable, for example, to ask in the course of an ordinary conversation what our society holds to be the purpose of work.”
Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 9. -
“Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 9.”
It would scarcely be acceptable, for example, to ask in the course of an ordinary conversation what our society holds to be the purpose of work. -
“It wasn't only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public.”
Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 16. -
“Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 16.”
It wasn't only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public.