"By the conversion of opinion held on authority into opinion held out of personal conviction, the content of what is held is not necessarily altered, and truth has not thereby taken the place of error. If we stick to a system of opinion and prejudice resting on the authority of others, or upon personal conviction, the one differs from the other merely in the conceit which animates the latter. Scepticism, directed to the whole compass of phenomenal consciousness, on the contrary, makes mind for the first time qualified to test what truth is; since it brings about a despair regarding what are called natural views, thoughts, and opinions, which it is matter of indifference to call personal or belonging to others, and with which the consciousness, that proceeds straight away to criticize and test, is still filled and hampered, thus being, as a matter of fact, incapable of what it wants to undertake."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), J. B. Baillie translation, § 78-79
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Skepticism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Skepticism
53 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Skepticism →
Related Quotes
"History is replete with examples of what happens when any group of authorities do not have to answer to empirical evi…"
"Meno: How will you look for something when you don't in the least know what it is? How on earth are you going to set …"
"I shouldn't like to take my oath on the whole story, but one thing I am ready to fight for as long I can, in word and…"
"We need to use every argument we can to fight against anyone who does away with knowledge, understanding and intellig…"
"Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my …"
"The doctrine of those who have denied that certainty could be attained at all, has some agreement with my way of proc…"
"During the nine subsequent years, I did nothing but roam from one place to another, desirous of being a spectator rat…"
"Scepticism is the first step towards truth."
"Through a vicious circle of pure reason skepsis itself becomes dogma."
"At the end of a life spent in the pursuit of knowledge Faust has to confess: "I now see that we can nothing know." Th…"