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Quotes from Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy — William Barrett

1913–1992 United States

← All quotes by William Barrett

24 quotes

The decline of religion in modern times means simply that religion is no longer the uncontested center and ruler of man's life, and that the Church is no longer the final and unquestioned home and asylum of his being.

Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (1958)

Jaspers sees the historical meaning of existential philosophy as a struggle to awaken in the individual the possibilities of an authentic and genuine life, in the face of the great modern drift toward a standardized mass society.

Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (1958)

We do not ask ourselves what the ultimate ideas behind our civilization are that have brought us into this danger; we do not search for the human face behind the bewildering array of instruments that man has forged; in a word, we do not dare to be philosophical.

Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (1958)

Now at the end, we come back to the beginning: to the situation of the world here and now, from which all understanding must start and to which it must return. In all existential thinking it is we ourselves, the questioners, who are ultimately in question.

Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (1958)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Barrett (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.