History of Philosophy Quotes

“Nevertheless, a distinction must be made between skepticism as a philosophical thesis and skepticism as an attitude in life. As a philosophical thesis, it is a contradictory one, since it affirms the impossibility of knowing truth, although this affirmation itself claims to be true. Thus, skepticism as a thesis refutes itself in the very act of being formulated. The other aspect is different: this is the abstention from all judgments, skepticism in life, which neither affirms nor denies. This skepticism appears in history time and again, although here, too, it is doubtful whether human life can remain floating in this abstention without taking root in convictions.”
― Julián Marías, History of Philosophy

“Absolute knowledge is an all-inclusive knowledge. If it is to be absolute, it cannot leave anything outside itself, not even error. It includes error as error. History must be this way: it must include all the elements of the human spirit, even the elements of error, which appear as such from the standpoint of truth.”
― Julián Marías, History of Philosophy

“For Hegel, reality is the absolute, which exists in a dialectical evolution that is logical and rational in character. According to his famous statement, everything that is real is rational and everything that is rational is real. Everything that exists is an element of this absolute, a stage in the dialectical evolution which culminates in philosophy, where the absolute spirit possesses itself in knowledge.”
― Julián Marías, History of Philosophy

“That is the criterion for truth: self-evidence.”
― Julián Marías, History of Philosophy