Philosophers are "Loafers"

We were not originally made to be learned; we have become so perhaps by a sort of abuse of our organic faculties, and at the expense of the State, which nourishes a host of loafers whom vanity has adorned with the name of “philosophers.” Nature created us all solely to be happy—yes, all, from the crawling worm to the eagle that soars out of sight in the clouds. That is why she has given all animals some share of natural law, a share of greater or less delicacy according to the needs of ...

 Consider Eliminating the Humanities

To stop teaching literature and the other arts on the grounds that they're bad for us would be like refusing to study diseases because they're bad for us. However, maybe there should be a moratorium on requiring those who don't really want to, to take courses in the "humanities." We first have to figure out where we are. Then if we decide that every college student should be exposed to the "humanities," let us also insist that every one of them be exposed to the sciences, social sciences, and...

 Objective and Subjective Science

There are no better terms available to describe this difference between the approach of the natural and the social sciences than to call the former 'objective' and the latter 'subjective'.

 Blurred Boundaries in the Sciences

Science is taking on a new aspect which is neither purely physical nor purely biological. It is becoming the study of organisms. Biology is the Study of the larger organisms; whereas physics is the study of the smaller organisms.

 Science Should be Accessible to All

The circulation of accurate and meaningful natural science ideas is of vital concern to our age. These are abundant in science but scarce in society. They should be rendered accessible to all. . . without education in natural science it is impossible to develop a strong intellect.... By placing natural science at the beginning of a course of education we would cleanse the child's mind of all prejudices; we would raise him on healthful food until the time when, strong of intellect . . . and re...

 Concepts Represent the Complex of Our Experiences

The only justification for our concepts is that they serve to represent thc complex of our experiences; beyond this they have no legitimacy. I am convinced that the philosophers had a harmful effect upon the progress of scientific thinking in removing certain fundamental concepts from the domain of empiricism, where they are under control, to the intangible heights of the a priori—the universe of ideas is just as little independent of the nature of our experiences as clothes are of the form...