Susan Haack Quotes
Susan Haack is a British-American philosopher, distinguished professor at the University of Miami, and one of the leading defenders of pragmatism and epistemological responsibility in contemporary analytic philosophy. Evidence and Inquiry developed her foundherentist theory of knowledge, mediating between pure foundationalism and pure coherentism through the metaphor of the crossword puzzle, while Defending Science Within Reason mounted a sustained critique of both naive scientism and postmodern skepticism. The quotes below are attributed to Susan Haack, organized by topic.
Susan Haack on Freedom
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“Memetics appears to have a lot of implications that we humans are machines, which people have never liked. Of course we're machines, we're biological machines. But people don't like that. Free will and consciousness is an illusion, and the self is a complex of memes. People don't like that. My view is that if these things are true it doesn't matter if we like them or not.”
Humans Are Just Machines for Propagating Memes , Wired.com, 2/29/2008 -
“If everyone understood evolution, then the tyranny of religious memes would be weakened, and we little humans might find a better way to live in this pointless universe.”
Life lessons , Guardian, 04/07/2005
Susan Haack on Justice
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“Humans Are Just Machines for Propagating Memes , Wired.com, 2/29/2008”
Memetics appears to have a lot of implications that we humans are machines, which people have never liked. Of course we're machines, we're biological machines. But people don't like that. Free will and consciousness is an illusion, and the self is a complex of memes. People don't like that. My view is that if these things are true it doesn't matter if we like them or not.
Susan Haack on Knowledge
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Attributed to Susan Haack:
“Knowledge is more like a crossword puzzle than a building; it is held up by mutual support, not by a single foundation.”
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Attributed to Susan Haack:
“Inquiry is the proper work of the intellect, and intellectual integrity is its first virtue.”
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Attributed to Susan Haack:
“Science and humanism are not enemies; they are two faces of the same commitment to truth.”
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Attributed to Susan Haack:
“Critical common-sensism is the antidote to both naive realism and fashionable skepticism.”
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“- Susan Blackmore, interview in MungBeing”
Consciousness is an illusion constructed by the memes. -
“Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter 74”
Parapsychology seems to be growing further away from the progress and excitement of the rest of consciousness studies.
Susan Haack on Life
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“Life lessons , Guardian, 04/07/2005”
If everyone understood evolution, then the tyranny of religious memes would be weakened, and we little humans might find a better way to live in this pointless universe.
Susan Haack on Mind
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“Consciousness is an illusion constructed by the memes.”
- Susan Blackmore, interview in MungBeing -
“Parapsychology seems to be growing further away from the progress and excitement of the rest of consciousness studies.”
Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter 74 -
“The other key to my failures seemed to be belief. I was told that I didn’t get results because I didn’t believe strongly enough in psi , because I didn’t have an open mind!”
The Elusive Open Mind: Ten Years of -
“The Elusive Open Mind: Ten Years of”
The other key to my failures seemed to be belief. I was told that I didn’t get results because I didn’t believe strongly enough in psi , because I didn’t have an open mind!
Susan Haack on Virtue
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Attributed to Susan Haack:
“Honest inquiry is rarer, and harder, than the academic profession sometimes pretends.”