It may indeed prove to be far the most difficult and not the least important task for human reason rationally to comprehend its own limitations. It is essential for the growth of reason that as individuals we should bow to forces and obey principles which we cannot hope fully to understand, yet on which the advance and even the preservation of civilization depend.
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In that the wisdom of the few becomes available to the many, there is progress in human affairs; without it, read more
In that the wisdom of the few becomes available to the many, there is progress in human affairs; without it, the static routine of tradition continues.
The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises read more
The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises these men need the guidance of some kind of theory; but, being unfamiliar with the field of ideas, they do not know that alternatives to the popular theories are possible. They know only what they have always been taught.
To know truly is to know by causes.
To know truly is to know by causes.
When we find a thinker reflecting or echoing an apparently erroneous, narrow, or even illogical thought that was popular or read more
When we find a thinker reflecting or echoing an apparently erroneous, narrow, or even illogical thought that was popular or authoritative in his time, we must never rule out the possibility that what we have discovered is not the limit of his vision but only an example of his deliberate rhetorical accommodation to reigning prejudice which he does not share but thinks it best not to expose.
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the read more
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
The human understanding, from its peculiar nature, easily supposes a greater degree of order and regularity in things than it read more
The human understanding, from its peculiar nature, easily supposes a greater degree of order and regularity in things than it really finds.
...the evils of mankind are caused, not by the primary aggressiveness of individuals, but by their self-transcending identification with groups read more
...the evils of mankind are caused, not by the primary aggressiveness of individuals, but by their self-transcending identification with groups whose common denominator is low intelligence and high emotionality.
Evaluation and judgment are responses to what exists, sorting the things that pass before us into categories of good, bad, read more
Evaluation and judgment are responses to what exists, sorting the things that pass before us into categories of good, bad, and indifferent. But a rational life, the life of a valuer, does not consist essentially in reaction. It consists in action. Man does not find his values, like the other animals; he creates them. The primary focus of a valuer is not to take the world as it comes and pass judgment. His primary focus is to identify what might and ought to exist, to uncover potentialities that he can exploit, to find ways of reshaping the world in the image of his values.
The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.
The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.
