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Quote by Allan Bloom

“To recognize that some of the things our culture believes are not true imposes on us the duty of finding out which are true and which are not.”

Quote by Allan Bloom

Author

Allan Bloom was an influential American philosopher, born on September 14, 1930, and died on October 7, 1992. He is one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, known for his profound understanding and unique insights into Western philosophy. more

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“Only when the true ends of society have nothing to do with the sublime does "culture" become necessary as a veneer to cover over the void. Culture can at best appreciate the monuments of earlier faith; it cannot produce them.”

Doe Ends Culture Produce Appreciate Void Sublime Monument Veneer

Author:Allan Bloom

“The distinction between private and public undermines the unity of spiritual strength, draining the public of the transcendent energies while trivializing them because the merely private life provides no proper stage for their action.”

Action Spiritual Energy Stage Unity Distinction Private Life Transcendent Draining Spiritual Strength

Author:Allan Bloom

“Intellectuals advertise their superiority to political practice but are absolutely in its thrall. It is no accident that Marxist theory and practice use the intellectuals as tools and keep them in brutal subservience.”

Use Political Practice Theory Tools Accidents Brutal Superiority Marxist Theory And Practice Subservience Marxist Theory

Author:Allan Bloom

“The distinction between the world of commerce and that of "culture" quickly became the distinction between infrastructure and superstructure, with the former clearly determining the latter.”

World Culture Former Distinction Latter Commerce Infrastructure

Author:Allan Bloom

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of property were just what Aristotle did not talk about. They are the conditions of happiness; but the essence of happiness, according to Aristotle, is virtue. So the moderns decided to deal with the conditions and to let happiness take care of itself.”

Care Deals Liberty Virtue Conditions Decided Essence Property Take Care Pursuit

Author:Allan Bloom

“The first discipline modernity's originators imposed upon themselves was that of self-restraint, learning to live with vulgarity. Their high expectations for effectiveness were made possible by low expectations of what was to be.”

Firsts Made Self Discipline Lows Expectations Restraint Effectiveness Modernity Vulgarity Self Restraint High Expectations Low Expectations

Author:Allan Bloom

“Plato says a multitude can never philosophize and hence can never recognize the seriousness of philosophy or who really philosophizes. Attempting to influence the multitude results in forced prostitution.”

Philosophy Results Influence Multitudes Plato Attempting Seriousness Prostitution

Author:Allan Bloom

“Bacon, Locke, Descartes, Hume, and all the others knew they were giving rights to vulgarity. But in so doing in addition to caring for man's well-being they were providing rights for themselves.”

Men Giving Wells Rights Caring Well Being Providing Vulgarity Hume

Author:Allan Bloom

“The old view was that delicacy of language was part of the nature, the sacred nature, of eros and that to speak about it in any other way would be to misunderstand it. What has disappeared is the risk and the hope of human connectedness embedded in eros. Ours is a language that reduces the longing for an other to the need for individual, private satisfaction and safety.”

Way Needs Humans Would Be Individual Speak Language Views Risk Safety Sacred Longing Satisfaction Embedded Delicacy Connectedness Eros

Author:Allan Bloom

“Did Romeo and Juliet have a ... "relationship"? The term "relationship" ... betokens a chaste egalitarianism leveling different ranks and degrees of attachment.”

Different Term Degrees Attachment Juliet Chaste Egalitarianism

Book:Love and Friendship

Source: Love and Friendship