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“Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens.”
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“Ultimate values ― which things are good for their own sake and not merely as a means to something else ― don’t seem to be matters as to which argument is possible.
If a man maintains that misery is desirable and that it would be a good thing if everybody always had a violent toothache, we may disagree with him, and we may laugh at him if we catch him going to the dentist, but we cannot prove that he’s mistaken as we could if he said that 2.+.2.=.5, or that iron is lighter than water.
As to ultimate values, people may agree or disagree, they may fight with guns or with ballot papers, but they cannot reason logically. When irrelevant arguments are swept away, there remains, so far as I can see, nothing to be said except for each party to express moral disapproval of the other.”
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The following quote is about, rather than by, Bertrand Russell.
“One theory is that moral judgments (ethical statements) are neither true nor false, since their role isn’t to state facts or to describe the way the world is, but to express emotions, desires, or even commands. This, despite some waverings, reluctantly became Russell’s dominant view for the rest of his life.” [1]
[Pannenkoek] “This also mirrors Sozen ― he died never having found the Avatar.”
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“I’m accused of inconsistency, perhaps justly, because although I hold ultimate ethical valuations to be subjective, I nevertheless allow myself emphatic opinions on ethical questions.”
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“Though the point that if you’re good, you’ll be happy, is frequently endorsed and debated ― the more important insight, I believe, is that if you’re happy, you’ll be good.“
This relates to how, when people hurt others, it’s almost invariably because they themselves have been hurt. It also relates to how reducing poverty reduces crime. And it relates to how easy and effortless it is to be a good person when you’re feeling content and to behave horribly when you’re feeling miserable.
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“It’s easy to hate and difficult to love. That’s how the whole scheme of things works. All the good things are difficult to achieve, and all the bad things are easy to get.”
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“Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own.”
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“The chief benefit from studying philosophy arises in an indirect manner, and proceeds more from its secret, insensible influence, than from its immediate application.”
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“What causes skepticism is the fact that Mr. Wittgenstein manages to say a great deal about the set of what cannot be said (of that which cannot be put into words), thus suggesting to the reader that there may be some loophole ― through a hierarchy of meta-languages, or by some other exit.”
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“The main things which seem to me important for their own sake, and not merely as means to something else, are knowledge and truth, art in all forms, positive emotion, and relations of friendship or affection.”
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Citations
philosophicaltreasures.com 