--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To us investigators, the concept 'soul'…" description: "\"To us investigators, the concept 'soul' is irrelevant and a matter for laughter. But matter is an abstraction of exactly the same kind, just as good an..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc0/ernst-mach-15026_abstraction_to-us-investigators-the-concept-soul-is_2486757.png" --- # To us investigators, the concept 'soul' is irrelevant and… ![“To us investigators, the concept 'soul' is irrelevant and a matter for laughter. But matter is an abstraction of exactly the same kind, just as good and just as bad as it is. We know as much about the soul as we do of matter.” quote by Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc0/ernst-mach-15026_abstraction_to-us-investigators-the-concept-soul-is_2486757.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc0/ernst-mach-15026_abstraction_to-us-investigators-the-concept-soul-is_2486757.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc0/ernst-mach-15026_abstraction_to-us-investigators-the-concept-soul-is_2486757.png) > “To us investigators, the concept 'soul' is irrelevant and a matter for laughter. But matter is an abstraction of exactly the same kind, just as good and just as bad as it is. We know as much about the soul as we do of matter.” [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Soul and matter are both abstractions; neither can be fully known. **In simple terms:** Soul and matter are equally unknowable. Key Takeaway Accept limits of knowledge about metaphysical concepts. Themes philosophy epistemology metaphysics Mood skeptical reflective Type philosophical inquisitive When to use this quote - theoretical debate - academic curricula - personal belief systems - ethical discussions - scientific research Key Concepts abstraction knowledge limits scientific skepticism Questions to Reflect On - Can we ever truly know the soul? - Is matter any less mysterious than the soul? A Different Perspective Some argue that subjective experience provides a different kind of insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/) [Investigators](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investigators/) [Laughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laughter/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) ## Related quotes > [“To us investigators, the concept 'soul' is irrelevant and a matter for laughter.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/to-us-investigators-the-concept-soul-is-irrelevant-and-a-matter-for/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [The work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-crichton/the-work-of-science-has-nothing-whatever-to-do-with-consensus/) [Michael Crichton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-crichton/) > [The care of the soul is 'a matter of the highest importance;' beyond any thing which can be brought into comparison with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-whitefield/the-care-of-the-soul-is-a-matter-of-the-highest-importance-beyond-any/) [George Whitefield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-whitefield/) > [“The very essence of things is totally changed. You neither are agreed upon the definition of the soul nor on that of matter. Descartes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/the-very-essence-of-things-is-totally-changed-you-neither-are-agreed/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [Because the Soul is not made of matter, since it is spiritual, it cannot obey the laws of matter, it cannot be judged by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/because-the-soul-is-not-made-of-matter-since-it-is-spiritual-it/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [If we attempt to sink the soul in matter, its light is quenched.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/if-we-attempt-to-sink-the-soul-in-matter-its-light-is-quenched/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [“The soul’s a matter of the heart, Robert, and the heart’s a mystery even the greatest scientists don’t understand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-bunzl/the-soul-s-a-matter-of-the-heart-robert-and-the-heart-s-a-mystery/) [Peter Bunzl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-bunzl/) > [To be or not to be,, its the soul matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/armando/to-be-or-not-to-be-its-the-soul-matter/) [Armando](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/armando/) > [The power of understanding symbols, i.e. of regarding everything about a sense-datum as irrelevant except a certain form that it embodies, is the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanne-katherina-langer/the-power-of-understanding-symbols-i-e-of-regarding-everything-about/) [Susanne Katherina Langer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanne-katherina-langer/) > [The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts for a new theory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mayr/the-history-of-science-knows-scores-of-instances-where-an/) [Ernst Mayr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mayr/) > [If I had multiple lives, I'd like to do many things, including being a homicide investigator. I'm not brave enough to chase people and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veena-sud/if-i-had-multiple-lives-i-d-like-to-do-many-things-including-being-a/) [Veena Sud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veena-sud/) > [Do experimental work but keep in mind that other investigators in the same field will consider your discoveries as less than one fourth as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-manning-child/do-experimental-work-but-keep-in-mind-that-other-investigators-in-the/) Charles Manning Child > [Not many appreciate the ultimate power and potential usefulness of basic knowledge accumulated by obscure, unseen investigators who, in a lifetime of intensive study,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenie-clark/not-many-appreciate-the-ultimate-power-and-potential-usefulness-of/) Eugenie Clark > [I am myself by inclination an investigator.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/i-am-myself-by-inclination-an-investigator/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [Ardent desire for knowledge, in fact, is the one motive attracting and supporting investigators in their efforts; and just this knowledge, really grasped and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-bernard/ardent-desire-for-knowledge-in-fact-is-the-one-motive-attracting-and/) [Claude Bernard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-bernard/) ## More by Ernst Mach > [Physics is experience, arranged in economical order.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/physics-is-experience-arranged-in-economical-order/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [Science itself, therefore, may be regarded as a minimal problem, consisting of the completest possible presentment of facts with the least possible expenditure of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/science-itself-therefore-may-be-regarded-as-a-minimal-problem/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [In reality, the law always contains less than the fact itself, because it does not reproduce the fact as a whole but only in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/in-reality-the-law-always-contains-less-than-the-fact-itself-because/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [The presentations and conceptions of the average man of the world are formed and dominated, not by the full and pure desire for knowledge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/the-presentations-and-conceptions-of-the-average-man-of-the-world-are/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [“To us investigators, the concept 'soul' is irrelevant and a matter for laughter.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/to-us-investigators-the-concept-soul-is-irrelevant-and-a-matter-for/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [Scientists must use the simplest means of arriving at their results and exclude everything not perceived by the senses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/scientists-must-use-the-simplest-means-of-arriving-at-their-results/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [Personally, people know themselves very poorly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/personally-people-know-themselves-very-poorly/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [“But we must not forget that all things in the world are connected with one another and depend on one another, and that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/but-we-must-not-forget-that-all-things-in-the-world-are-connected/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [If our dreams were more regular, more connected, more stable, they would also have more practical importance for us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/if-our-dreams-were-more-regular-more-connected-more-stable-they-would/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [Mathematics may be defined as the economy of counting. There is no problem in the whole of mathematics which cannot be solved by direct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/mathematics-may-be-defined-as-the-economy-of-counting-there-is-no/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [Strange as it may sound, the power of mathematics rests on its evasion of all unnecessary thought and on its wonderful saving of mental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/strange-as-it-may-sound-the-power-of-mathematics-rests-on-its-evasion/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [The acquisition of the most elementary truth does not devolve upon the individual alone: it is pre-effected in the development of the race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/the-acquisition-of-the-most-elementary-truth-does-not-devolve-upon/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [The history of the development of mechanics is quite indispensable to a full comprehension of the science in its present condition. It also affords…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/the-history-of-the-development-of-mechanics-is-quite-indispensable-to/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [The task which we have set ourselves is simply to show why and for what purpose we hold that standpoint during most of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/the-task-which-we-have-set-ourselves-is-simply-to-show-why-and-for/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) > [All this, the positive and physical essence of mechanics, which makes its chief and highest interest for a student of nature, is in existing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mach/all-this-the-positive-and-physical-essence-of-mechanics-which-makes/) [Ernst Mach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) [Explore all 44 Ernst Mach quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mach/) ## More Abstraction quotes > [Everything in dancing is style, allusion, the essence of many thoughts and feelings. The abstraction of many moments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-ailey/everything-in-dancing-is-style-allusion-the-essence-of-many-thoughts/) [Alvin Ailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-ailey/) > [The premises from which we begin are not arbitrary ones, not dogmas, but real premises from which abstraction can only be made in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/the-premises-from-which-we-begin-are-not-arbitrary-ones-not-dogmas/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [Two elements are needed to form a truth - a fact and an abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remy-de-gourmont/two-elements-are-needed-to-form-a-truth-a-fact-and-an-abstraction/) [Remy de Gourmont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remy-de-gourmont/) > [But we must not underestimate the potency of the mathematical process of abstraction. A surprising variety of things happen to have both magnitude and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banesh-hoffmann/but-we-must-not-underestimate-the-potency-of-the-mathematical-process/) Banesh Hoffmann > [Sometimes I start in a very realistic fashion, and as I go on from one painting to another of the same kind, it becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-o-keeffe/sometimes-i-start-in-a-very-realistic-fashion-and-as-i-go-on-from-one/) [Georgia O'Keeffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-o-keeffe/) > [I like residing in abstraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sufjan-stevens/i-like-residing-in-abstraction/) [Sufjan Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sufjan-stevens/) > [Cancer begins and ends with people. In the midst of scientific abstraction, it is sometimes possible to forget this one basic fact. Doctors treat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-goodfield/cancer-begins-and-ends-with-people-in-the-midst-of-scientific/) [June Goodfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-goodfield/) > [Yes, there was an element of abstraction and unreality in misfortune. But when an abstraction starts to kill you, you have to get to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/yes-there-was-an-element-of-abstraction-and-unreality-in-misfortune/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Computer Science is a science of abstraction -creating the right model for a problem and devising the appropriate mechanizable techniques to solve it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-aho/computer-science-is-a-science-of-abstraction-creating-the-right-model/) Alfred Aho > [In 'Self Comes to Mind' I pay a lot of attention to simple creatures without brains or minds, because those 'cartooned abstractions of who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-damasio/in-self-comes-to-mind-i-pay-a-lot-of-attention-to-simple-creatures/) [Antonio Damasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-damasio/) > [Don't get stuck on the level of words. A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/don-t-get-stuck-on-the-level-of-words-a-word-is-no-more-than-a-means/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Holidays are in no sense an alternative to the congestion and bustle of the cities and work. Quite the contrary. People look to escape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/holidays-are-in-no-sense-an-alternative-to-the-congestion-and-bustle/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [The pragmatist turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-pragmatist-turns-away-from-abstraction-and-insufficiency-from/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [ I'd say that \[Louis\] Brandeis practiced a kind of a "living originalism," to use the title of Jack Balkin's great book. 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