The object of Parliament is to substitute argument for fisticuffs.
--
Speech in the House of Commons (June 6, 1951) ; in Churchill by Himself, (2008), ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs, p. 22 ISBN 1586486381Winston Churchill
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Schematically, the argument is as follows. Berkeley says: “Sensible objects must be sensible. A is a sensible object. Therefore A must be sensible.” But if “must” indicates logical necessity, the argument is only valid if A must be a sensible object. The argument does not prove that, from the properties of A other than its being sensible, it can be deduced that A is sensible. It does not prove, for example, that colours intrinsically indistinguishable from those that we see may not exist unseen. We may believe on physiological grounds that this does not occur, but such grounds are empirical; so far as logic is concerned, there is no reason why there should not be colours where there is no eye or brain.
George Berkely
On the Argument from Degree: "That's an argument? You might as well say, people vary in smelliness but we can make the comparison only by reference to a perfect maximum of conceivable smelliness. Therefore there must exist a pre-eminently peerless stinker, and we call him God. Or substitute any dimension of comparison you like, and derive an equivalently fatuous conclusion." (pg. 102)
Richard Dawkins
On general grounds I object to Parliament trying to regulate private morality in matters which only affects the person who commits the offence.
Robert Cecil
On general grounds I object to Parliament trying to regulate private morality in matters which only affects the person who commits the offence.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
I object to a quarrel because it always interrupts an argument.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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