Why do our bodies wear out? Why can't we just go on and on and on, accumulating a potentially infinite number of Frequent Flyer mi...leage points? These are the kinds of questions that philosophers have been asking ever since they realized that being a philosopher did not involve any heavy lifting. And yet the answer is really very simple. Our bodies are mechanical devices, they break down. Some devices, such as battery-operated toys costing $39.95, break down almost instantly upon exposure to the Earth's atmosphere. Other devices, such as stereo systems owned by your next-door neighbor's 13-year-old son who likes to listen to bands with names like "Nerve Damage," at a volume capable of disintegrating limestone, will continue to function perfectly for many years, even if you hit them with an ax. But the fundamental law of physics is that sooner or later every mechanism ceases to function for one reason or another, and it is never covered under the warranty.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In an age robbed of religious symbols, going to the shops replaces going to the church.... We have a free choice, but at a price. ...We can win experience, but never achieve innocence. Marx knew that the epic activities of the modern world involve not lance and sword but dry goods.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The acceptance of a theory as true does involve a personal choice in a way that a law does not. Different people do differ about t...heories; they can choose whether or no they will believe them; but people do not differ about laws; there is no personal choice; universal agreement can be forced. Again, if we look at the history of science, we shall find that the great advances in theory are more closely connected with the names of the great men than are the advances in law. Every important theory is associated with some man whose scientific work was notable apart from that theory; either he invented other important theories or in some way he did scientific work greatly above the average. On the other hand there are a good many well-known laws which are associated with the names of men who, apart from those particular laws, are practically unknown; they discovered one important law, but they have no claim to rank among the geniuses of science. That fact seems to indicate that a greater degree of genius is needed to invent true theories than to discover true laws.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The social forces that operate on a family during the daughter's formative years continue to shape her experience. Thus the famili...es, schools, and jobs that involve poor women are likely to be very hierarchically arranged, demanding conformity, passivity, and obedience--all unsupportive of continued intellectual growth.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The work of the miner has its unavoidable incidents of discomfort and danger, and these should not be increased by the neglect of ...the owners to provide every practicable safety appliance. Economies which involve a sacrifice of human life are intolerable.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Many divorces are not really the result of irreparable injury but involve, instead, a desire on the part of the man or woman to sh...atter the setup, start out from scratch alone, and make life work for them all over again. They want the risk of disaster, want to touch bottom, see where bottom is, and, coming up, to breathe the air with relief and relish again.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt yo...u become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man's surety. If your friend is in distress, aid him if you have the means to spare. If he fails to be able to return it, it is only so much lost.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I find it extraordinary that a straightforward if inelegant device for ensuring the survival of the species should involve human b...eings in such emotional turmoil. Does sex have to be taken so seriously?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
An emotion is a tendency to feel, and an instinct is a tendency to act, characteristically, when in the presence of a certain obje...ct in the environment. But the emotions also have their bodily "expression," which may involve strong muscular activity (as in fear or anger, for example); and it becomes a little hard in many cases to separate the description of the "emotional" condition from that of the "instinctive" reaction which one and the same object may provoke.... Every object that excites an instinct excites an emotion as well. The only distinction one may draw is that the reaction called emotional terminates in the subject's own body, whilst the reaction called instinctive is apt to go farther and enter into practical relations with the exciting object.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »