“Of course we may assume many general and non-historical meanings for secularism, but turning a subject that is in all its existence a historical matter into a non-historical matter is a blatant mistake.”

(Berlin Institute of Advanced Studies, Nov 2005).
Attributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Of course we may assume many general and non-historical meanings for secularism, but turning a subject that is in all i…" by Mohammad Khatami?
Mohammad Khatami photo
Mohammad Khatami 17
Iranian prominent reformist politician, scholar and shiite … 1943

Related quotes

Samuel R. Delany photo
Silvia Federici photo

“All meaning is necessarily teleological in character and historically rooted in the concrete operations of human subjects.”

Silvia Federici (1942) Italian American scholar, teacher, and feminist activist

"Viet Cong Philosophy: Tran Duc Thao" (1970)

Nicolás Gómez Dávila photo

“In general, "historical necessity" turns out to be merely a name for human stupidity.”

Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913–1994) Colombian writer and philosopher

Sucesivos Escolios a un Texto Implícito (1992)

Marcus Tullius Cicero photo

“Indeed rhetoricians are permitted to lie about historical matters so they can speak more subtly.”
Quidem concessum est rhetoribus ementiri in historiis ut aliquid dicere possint argutius.

Brutus, 42

Newt Gingrich photo
Karl Mannheim photo

“The non-evaluative general total conception of ideology is to be found primarily in those historical investigations, where, provisionally and for the sake of the simplification of the problem, no judgments are pronounced as to the correctness of the ideas to be treated. This approach confines itself to discovering the relations between certain mental structures and the life-situations in which they exist.”

Karl Mannheim (1893–1947) Hungarian sociologist

Ideology and Utopia (1929)
Context: The non-evaluative general total conception of ideology is to be found primarily in those historical investigations, where, provisionally and for the sake of the simplification of the problem, no judgments are pronounced as to the correctness of the ideas to be treated. This approach confines itself to discovering the relations between certain mental structures and the life-situations in which they exist. We must constantly ask ourselves how it comes about that a given type of social situation gives rise to a given interpretation. Thus the ideological element in human thought, viewed at this level, is always bound up with the existing life-situation of the thinker. According to this view human thought arises, and operates, not in a social vacuum but in a definite social milieu.

Walter Scott photo

“There is a vulgar incredulity, which in historical matters, as well as in those of religion, finds it easier to doubt than to examine.”

Chronicles of the Canongate (1828), Second Series, Ch. 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=lo8nAAAAMAAJ&q=%22There+is+a+vulgar+incredulity+which+in+historical+matters+as+well+as+in+those+of+religion+finds+it+easier+to+doubt+than+to+examine%22&pg=PA19#v=onepage

Michael Crichton photo

“Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.”

Michael Crichton (1942–2008) American author, screenwriter, film producer

Aliens Cause Global Warming (2003)
Context: I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.

Related topics