Surely from time to time you have come across philosophical phrases that have made you think. Or maybe you haven't fully understood it 100%. These are characterized by having been said by philosophers of the stature of Aristotle, Descartes, Nietzsche, Socrates, Plato... But, Do you really know what they are, what characterizes them and why they are important?
Below we will talk to you about them and we will leave you some examples so that you understand what these refer to. Shall we start?
What are philosophical phrases
The first thing you should know is that philosophical phrases are actually thoughts or phrases that some philosophers or writers have said and that make the reader or listener reflect on that topic. Thus You can delve deeper into a person's deep self-knowledge and question values, beliefs, even myths, and dismantle them (or give another perspective).
In other words, you have a series of statements made by famous or not, in which the main idea is characterized by being deep and thoughtful. The topics it deals with can be life, existence, morality, knowledge... Often, they are phrases that are taken from essays or documents that are much longer, but become famous in that specific phrase or paragraph.
Characteristics of philosophical phrases
With the previous definition it will be much clearer to you what we are referring to. But what you may not know is that these phrases have a series of common characteristics. The most common are:
- Depth of thought. In the sense that they want the person who reads or listens to them to understand that there is something deeper and more complex in those words that they must analyze. Its objective is to develop and stimulate critical thinking, self-knowledge...
- Brevity. Although the length of philosophical phrases has no minimum or maximum, most of us could say that they are very brief, measuring the exact words to achieve an impact on the person.
- Universal. Relating this to the themes it deals with, since they are universal: morality, truth, knowledge, freedom, life...
- Ambiguity. Related to the depth of thought, these types of phrases lend themselves to multiple interpretations. Depending on the analysis you carry out, you can think one way or another.
Because they are important
Now that you have a better knowledge of philosophical phrases, are you wondering why they are important? In reality, it is not simply to put a nice phrase in a folder, in an article or in a book. They are useful because they help you stop and think about things better, to do a self-reflection about whether your lifestyle, your thoughts, what you believe or what you don't really is so or you are making a mistake. And this helps you achieve a better life, because you will be more mature, you will be happier and you will have learned a lesson.
Of course, to achieve all this it is very important to understand those philosophical phrases. And many simply read them and think they are beautiful or not, but they do not delve further, which is exactly what needs to be done.
Examples of philosophical phrases and their reflection
Below we are going to give you some of the most famous philosophical phrases, which you have surely heard at some point. But what perhaps you have never done is understand them. You will see:
"I think, therefore I am." - Rene Descartes
This phrase is quite well known and has appeared in newspapers, articles, magazines, advertisements, television... But what you may not know is that Descartes was looking for a reflection on knowledge with it. For him, by doubting everything, even his existence, he realized that there was only one thing certain: that he was thinking. And if he was thinking, automatically It meant that it existed, since it was proof of it.
"God is dead." – Friedrich Nietzsche
This phrase was not dictated as a provocation. But the truth is that, when you read it, it can be understood as such and even criticized unfairly. And the author focused on the theme of the loss of faith, in the sense that it was no longer like before, but rather that the advance of the modern era had changed the way in which believers believed in that figure.
Therefore, for Nietzsche The objective was to reflect on what current beliefs were like., the values ​​and that they realized that the way of believing had evolved, perhaps in a positive or negative way.
"I only know that I know nothing". – Socrates
Another of the most common phrases that you may have heard on occasion (or read) belongs to Socrates. The central theme of this is also knowledge, but it mixes it with humility and curiosity. You see, the phrase itself gives rise to wanting to learn many things starting from our ignorance. And it is that no one is born knowing, but he learns as he is formed, his experience, his values, beliefs... And even so, he never learns completely because there is evolution, there are changes, hence a person cannot be considered the most intelligent or the best because there will always be something you don't know.
How to create your own philosophical phrases
Finally, how about we help you create a philosophical phrase? While it may seem difficult at first, with a little practice and following a few steps, you shouldn't have much of a problem.
These steps are the following:
- Identify the central theme. Every philosophical phrase has a single central theme: life, morality, knowledge, freedom, friendship... Any one can work for you, but always one that involves reflection.
- Reflect. This is where you have to spend time thinking about that topic. You have to know the different perspectives, the complexity of the topic, the nuances, everything related to that specific topic you want to focus on.
- Simplify. The reflection step will take you a long time, but also the simplification step because you will have to condense all your reflections into a single idea that is understood and at the same time that makes whoever reads or listens to it think.
- Choose the right words. To formulate the phrase, it is not enough to say the first thing you believe and that's it. You need to choose the most appropriate words that truly convey what you want to say.
- Review and rephrase. Finally, you will have to see if the words chosen are really appropriate, if there are unnecessary ones, if the sentence is clear... And you may reformulate it several times.
Do you now dare to create your own philosophical phrases?