We Hate The Very Idea That Our

We Do Not Know Anything - This Is The First. Therefore, We Should Be Very Modest - This Is The Second. Not To Claim That We Do Know When We Do Not - This Is The Third. That's The Kind Of Attitude I'd Like To Popularize. There Is Little Hope For Success.

A Rationalist, As I Use The Word, Is A Man Who Attempts To Reach Decisions By Argument And Perhaps, In Certain Cases, By Compromise, Rather Than By Violence. He Is A Man Who Would Rather Be Unsuccessful In Convincing Another Man By Argument Than Successful In Crushing Him By Force, By Intimidation And Threats, Or Even By Persuasive Propaganda.

I Do Not Overlook The Fact That There Are Irrationalists Who Love Mankind, And That Not All Forms Of Irrationalism Engender Criminality. But I Hold That He Who Teaches That Not Reason But Love Should Rule Opens Up The Way For Those Who Rule By Hate. (socrates, I Believe, Saw Something Of This When He Suggested That Mistrust Or Hatred Of Argument Is Related To Mistrust Or Hatred Of Man).

Philosophy Is A Necessary Activity Because We, All Of Us, Take A Great Number Of Things For Granted, And Many Of These Assumptions Are Of A Philosophical Character; We Act On Them In Private Life, In Politics, In Our Work, And In Every Other Sphere Of Our Lives -- But While Some Of These Assumptions Are No Doubt True, It Is Likely, That More Are False And Some Are Harmful. So The Critical Examination Of Our Presuppositions -- Which Is A Philosophical Activity -- Is Morally As Well As Intellectually Important.

We Hate The Very Idea That Our Own Ideas May Be Mistaken, So We Cling Dogmatically To Our Conjectures.