From the perspective of mere representation, the external world always remains only a phenomenon.
The knife of historical relativism... which has cut to pieces all metaphysics and religion must also bring about healing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Historical relativism challenges traditional beliefs, but it can also lead to understanding and healing.
In this quote, Wilhelm Dilthey suggests that the concept of historical relativism, which questions fixed truths in metaphysics and religion, has the potential not only to dismantle established ideas but also to foster healing and understanding. By critically examining and breaking down such beliefs, individuals may find new ways to comprehend their existence and relationships with the world, leading to a transformative experience.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on philosophical thought, I could reference this quote to discuss the impact of historical perspectives on personal beliefs.
More from Wilhelm Dilthey
All quotes βAny theory intended to describe and analyze socio-historical reality cannot restrict itself to the human spirit and disregard the totality of human nature.
The sciences which take socio-historical reality as their subject matter are seeking, more intensively than ever before, their systematic relations to one another and to their foundation.
All science is experiential; but all experience must be related back to and derives its its validity from the conditions and context of consciousness in which it arises, i.e., the totality of our nature.
If there were a science of human beings it would be anthropology that aims at understanding the totality of experience through structural context.
The individual always realizes only one of the possibilities in his development, which could always have taken a different turning whenever he had to make an important decision.
Similar quotes
If you believe in subjective morality, why do you lock your doors at night?
I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent.
For nothing is more democratic than logic; it is no respecter of persons and makes no distinction between crooked and straight noses.
This rule of silence is upheld when the culture refuses everyone easy access even to the word βpatriarchy.β Most children do not learn what to call this system of institutionaliz ed gender roles, so rarely do we name it in everyday speech. This silence promotes denial. And how can we organize to challenge and change a system that cannot be named?
If language is lost, humanity is lost. If writing is lost, certain kinds of civilization and society are lost, but many other kinds remain - and there is no reason to think that those alternatives are inferior.
It is the pull of opposite poles that stretches souls. And only stretched souls make music.