“A moral point of view too often serves as a substitute for understanding in technological matters.”

—  Marshall McLuhan

Source: 1960s, Understanding Media (1964), p. 245

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 "A moral point of view too often serves as a substitute for understanding in technological matters." by Marshall McLuhan?
Marshall McLuhan photo
Marshall McLuhan 416
Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor … 1911–1980

Related quotes

Marshall McLuhan photo

“A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and
understanding.”

Marshall McLuhan book The Gutenberg Galaxy

Source: The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man

“Nature has no automatically transferable wisdom to serve as the basis of human morality. Passive observation and unquestioned reverence for nature are no substitute for ethical philosophy.”

Stephen Jay Gould book An Urchin in the Storm

Source: An Urchin in the Storm (1987) "Utopia, Limited", p. 225

Constantine P. Cavafy photo

“That's certainly one point of view. Quite understandable.”

Constantine P. Cavafy (1863–1933) Greek poet

" In The Year 200 B.C. http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_1.htm" (1931)
Context: The Spartans weren't to be led
and ordered around
like precious servants. Besides,
they wouldn't have thought a pan-Hellenic expedition
without a Spartan king in command
was to be taken very seriously.
Of course, then, "except the Lacedaimonians." That's certainly one point of view. Quite understandable.

“From the point of view of a tapeworm, man was created by God to serve the appetite of the tapeworm.”

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)

David Mitchell photo

“Courage is the highest quality for a soldier, but technology is a fine substitute.”

David Mitchell (1969) English novelist

Part 6
number9dream (2001)

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. photo

“But as precedents survive like the clavicle in the cat, long after the use they once served is at an end, and the reason for them has been forgotten, the result of following them must often be failure and confusion from the merely logical point of view.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice

"Common Carriers and the Common Law", 13 Am. Law Rev. 608, 630 (1879).
1870s

“From one point of view, structure is a part of technology; for example the spread of the bureaucratic form of organization might be said to be the most profound technological innovation in the last 3 or 4 centuries.”

Charles Perrow (1925–2019) American sociologist

Source: 1960s, "Hospitals: technology, structure and goals", 1965, p. 914

Walt Disney photo

“We like to have a point of view in our stories, not an obvious moral, but a worthwhile theme.”

Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman

As quoted in The Gospel According to Disney : Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust (2004) by Mark I. Pinsky, p. 2
Context: We like to have a point of view in our stories, not an obvious moral, but a worthwhile theme. … All we are trying to do is give the public good entertainment. That is all they want.

Theodore Dalrymple photo

“To deal with the problems of modern society, hard thought, confrontation with an often unpleasant reality, and moral courage are needed, for which a vague and self-congratulatory broadmindedness is no substitute.”

Theodore Dalrymple (1949) English doctor and writer

An imaginary “scandal” http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/23/may05/dalrymple.htm (May 2005).
New Criterion (2000 - 2005)

Norman Mailer photo

“All too often men with physical courage are disappointing in their moral imagination.”

Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate

Superman Comes to the Supermarket (1960)

Related topics