William Hamilton Quotes
Sir William Hamilton, ninth Baronet of Preston, was a Scottish philosopher and the leading British philosophical figure of the mid nineteenth century. Professor of logic and metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh, he combined the Scottish common sense tradition with elements drawn from German post-Kantian philosophy and produced a celebrated theory of the relativity of human knowledge: that the absolute and the infinite are not, as such, objects of knowledge for finite minds. The quotes below are attributed to William Hamilton, organized by topic.
William Hamilton on Knowledge
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Attributed to William Hamilton:
“All knowledge is of the relative; the absolute, as such, is unknowable.”
William Hamilton on Mind
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Attributed to William Hamilton:
“On earth there is nothing great but man; in man there is nothing great but mind.”
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Attributed to William Hamilton:
“To be conscious is to be conscious of something distinguished from self.”
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Attributed to William Hamilton:
“Philosophy is reasoned consciousness.”
William Hamilton on Truth
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Attributed to William Hamilton:
“Logic is the science of the formal laws of thought.”