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Quotes from Realism with a Human Face — Hilary Putnam

1926–2016 United States

← All quotes by Hilary Putnam

2 quotes

Philosophers today are as fond as ever of apriori arguments with ethical conclusions. One reason such arguments are always unsatisfying is that they always prove too much; when a philosopher 'solves' an ethical problem for one, one feels as if one had asked for a subway token and been given a passenger ticket valid for the first interplanetary passenger-carrying space ship instead.

Realism with a Human Face (1992)

The similarity between Marxism and neoconservativism might be expressed in the following way: both perspectives say that certain injustices can't be cured under our present system of political democracy and mixed economy. The Marxist concludes that we have to overthrow the present system and the neoconservative concludes that we have to live with the injustices. But they are both wrong.

Realism with a Human Face (1992)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Hilary Putnam (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.