Quote by Daniel J. Boorstin on Knowledge, Ignorance, and Fanaticism

„I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever.“

Daniel J. BoorstinDaniel J. Boorstin on the dangers of fanaticism and ideology versus ignorance and the role of skepticism in progress.
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Daniel J. Boorstin was an American historian, writer, and former Librarian of Congress.

This statement highlights the dangers of ideologies and fanaticism compared to ignorance and emphasizes the importance of skepticism.


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Daniel J. Boorstin quote about knowledge, ignorance, skepticism, and fanaticism

Daniel Joseph Boorstin (1914–2004) was an American historian and writer. He taught law at the University of Chicago for 25 years and later served as director of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. From 1975 to 1987, he was Director of the Library of Congress and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1969.

Chris Hedges quote about the danger of human hubris and the limits of human natureCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"The greatest danger that besets us does not come from believers or atheists; it comes from those who, under the guise of religion, science or reason, imagine that we can free ourselves from the limitations of human nature and perfect the human species." Chris Hedges
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"The conviction that it is important to believe this or that, even if a free inquiry would not support the belief, is one which is common to almost all religions and which inspires all systems of state education...A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving to them only that degree of certainty which the evidence warrants, would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which the world is suffering. But at present, in most countries, education aims at preventing the growth of such a habit, and men who refuse to profess belief in some system of unfounded dogmas are not considered suitable as teachers of the young… The world that I should wish to see would be one freed from the virulence of group hostilities and capable of realizing that happiness for all is to be derived rather from cooperation than from strife. I should wish to see a world in which education aimed at mental freedom rather than at imprisoning the minds of the young in a rigid armor of dogma calculated to protect them through life against the shafts of impartial evidence. The world needs open hearts and open minds, and it is not through rigid systems, whether old or new, that these can be derived." Bertrand Russell
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"Let us be clear: we are not criticizing practical tolerance, which is exercised towards individuals, but rather theoretical tolerance, which claims to be applied to ideas and grants all ideas the same rights. This would logically imply a radical skepticism. We cannot help noticing that, like all propagandists, the apostles of tolerance, truth to tell, are very often the most intolerant of men. This is what has in fact happened, and it is strangely ironical : those who wished to overthrow all dogma have created for their own use, we will not say a new dogma, but a caricature of dogma, which they have succeeded in imposing on the western world in general; in this way there have been established, under the pretext of "freedom of thought," the most chimerical beliefs that have ever been seen at any time, under the form of these different idols, of which we have just singled out some of the more important." René Guénon
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