4 Robert A. Heinlein Quotes on Philosophy

Robert A. Heinlein quotes on philosophy

23. Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events.

25. No philosophy that he had ever heard or read gave any reasonable purpose for man's existence, nor any rational clue to his proper conduct. Basking in the sunshine might be as good a thing to do with one's life as any other - but it was not for him and he knew it, even if he could not define how he knew it.

91. If men were the automatons that behaviorists claim they are, the behaviorist psychologists could not have invented the amazing nonsense called 'behaviorist psychology.'

137. There are hidden contradictions in the minds of people who 'love Nature' while deploring the 'artificialities' with which 'Man has spoiled 'Nature.'' The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of 'Nature' - but beavers and their dams are. But the contradictions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity. In declaring his love for a beaver dam (erected by beavers for beavers' purposes) and his hatred for dams erected by men (for the purposes of men) the Naturist reveals his hatred for his own race - i.e., his own self-hatred. In the case of 'Naturists' such self-hatred is understandable; they are such a sorry lot. But hatred is too strong an emotion to feel toward them; pity and contempt are the most they rate. As for me, willy-nilly I am a man, not a beaver, and H. sapiens is the only race I have or can have. Fortunately for me, I like being part of a race made up of men and women - it strikes me as a fine arrangement - and perfectly 'natural' Believe it or not, there were 'Naturists' who opposed the first flight to old Earth's Moon as being 'unnaturaI' and a 'despoiling of Nature.'