Philosophy Quote by Thomas Jefferson
![“I [am] obliged to recur ultimately to my habitual anodyne, "I feel: therefore I exist." I feel bodies which are not myself: there are other existencies then. I call them "matter". I feel them changing place. This gives me "motion". Where there is an absence of matter, I call it "void", or…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/db3/thomas-jefferson-43_philosophy_i-am-obliged-to-recur-ultimately-to-my-h_79716.jpg)
““I [am] obliged to recur ultimately to my habitual anodyne, "I feel: therefore I exist." I feel bodies which are not myself: there are other existencies then. I call them "matter". I feel them changing place. This gives me "motion". Where there is an absence of matter, I call it "void", or "nothing", or "immaterial space". On the basis of sensation, of matter and motion, we may erect the fabric of all the certainties we can have or need.””
About This Quote
The speaker argues that personal sensation of matter, motion, and void forms the foundation of all knowledge and certainty.
In simple terms: Knowledge stems from sensory experience of matter and motion.
Key Takeaway
Sensory experience underpins certainty.
Themes
Epistemology
Phenomenology
Metaphysics
Existentialism
Mood
Reflective
Analytical
Type
Philosophical
Axiom
When to use this quote
- Philosophical debate on foundations of knowledge
- Teaching introductory epistemology
- Designing AI perception models
Key Concepts
Sensation
Matter
Motion
Void
Practical Applications
- Developing curricula on sensory-based epistemology
- Creating frameworks for grounding AI reasoning in perceptual data
Questions to Reflect On
- How does sensory experience limit or enable knowledge?
- Can certainty be achieved without external matter?
A Different Perspective
Critics argue that relying solely on sensation neglects rational inference and abstract reasoning.
![“[States and the Federal government are] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/401/thomas-jefferson-43_branches_states-and-the-federal-government-are-co_2619.jpg)
![“Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/00c/thomas-jefferson-43_change_single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-t_5515.jpg)
![“Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of [any difficult situation] in the easiest manner possible...” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ebe/thomas-jefferson-43_difficult_though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one_9828.jpg)
![“I never knew any man who had once tasted the sweetness of experimental knowledge, that ever afterward fasted after ye Vapour garlick and onions of phantasmatical seeming philosophy." [William Petty]” quote by Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e5a/carl-zimmer-16331_knowledge_i-never-knew-any-man-who-had-once-tasted_1770.jpg)
