"The development of the idea that the earth circles round the sun in a purely mechanical way in accordance with natural laws—that is, in a way not in the least determined by any purpose relating to mankind, and therefore no longer possessing any great emotional significance for people—presupposed and demanded at the same time a development in human beings themselves towards increased emotional control, a greater restraint of their spontaneous feeling that everything they experience and everything that concerns them takes its stamp from them, is the expression of an intention, a destiny, a purpose relating to themselves. Now, in the age that we call "modern", people have reached a stage of self-detachment that enables them to conceive of natural processes as an autonomous sphere operating in a purely mechanical or causal way without intention or purpose or destiny, and having a meaning or purpose for themselves only if they are in a position, through objective knowledge, to control it and thereby to give it a meaning and a purpose."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from GermanyAcademics from the United KingdomJews from GermanyPhilosophers from GermanySociologists from Germany
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 477
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norbert_Elias
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Norbert Elias
1897 – 1990
britischer Soziologe deutscher Herkunft
9 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Norbert Elias →
Related Quotes
"But at that particular stage in the development of these more object-related than self-related conceptual instruments…"
"If the present study has any significance at all, this results not least from its opposition to this mingling of what…"
"One of the peculiarities of the traditional human self-image is that people often speak and think of individuals and …"
"A heightened control of the affects, developed in society and learned by the individual, and above all a heightened d…"
"The psychogenesis of the adult make-up in civilized society cannot, therefore be understood if considered independent…"
"I wish you all the pleasurable excitement one can have without hurting others and one's own dignity."
"Wenn man keine klare soziologische Vorstellung von der Vergangenheit hat, wird man unvermeidlicherweise zu einem verz…"
"Die ‚Umstände‘, die sich ändern, sind nichts, was gleichsam von ‚außen‘ an den Menschen herankommt; die ‚Umstände‘, d…"
"Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time. The chasm b…"
"It is true that mathematics, owing to the fact that its whole content is built up by means of purely logical deductio…"