"For positivism, which has assumed the judicial office of enlightened reason, to speculate about intelligible worlds is no longer merely forbidden but senseless prattle. Positivism—fortunately for it—does not need to be atheistic, since objectified thought cannot even pose the question of the existence of God. The positivist censor turns a blind eye to official worship, as a special, knowledge-free zone of social activity, just as willingly as to art—but never to denial, even when it has a claim to be knowledge. For the scientific temper, any deviation of thought from the business of manipulating the actual, any stepping outside the jurisdiction of existence, is no less senseless and self-destructive than it would be for the magician to step outside the magic circle drawn for his incantation; and in both cases violation of the taboo carries a heavy price for the offender."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Dialectic of the Enlightenment, E. Jephcott, trans., p. 19
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Existence_of_God
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Existence of God
104 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Existence of God →
Related Quotes
"Reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one…"
"The existence of God may be proved in five ways. The first and most manifest way is the argument from motion. ...What…"
"We clearly infer from this that God, who moves all things, must Himself be immovable. If He, being the first mover, w…"
"Even theologians — even the great theologians of the thirteenth century,— even Saint Thomas Aquinas himself — did not…"
"Simply believing in the existence of God is not exactly what I would call a commitment. After all, even the devil bel…"
"Infinite God, age after age, throughout all cycles, wills through His Infinite Mercy to effect His presence amidst ma…"
"Debates about the existence of God are interminable (...) In my view, though, the persistence of this debate is not s…"
"Many people today lack hope. They are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a conf…"
"Truly says Cudworth that the greatest ignorance of which our modern wiseacres accuse the ancients is their belief in …"
"Ivan Karamazov ... does not absolutely deny the existence of God. He refutes Him in the name of a moral value. ... Go…"