Wilhelm Dilthey Quotes & Sayings

“From the perspective of mere representation, the external world always remains only a phenomenon.”

“The individual always realizes only one of the possibilities in its development, which could always have taken a different turning whenever it has to make an important decision.”

“Ancient metaphysics underwent many changes at the hands of medieval thinkers who brought it in line with the dominant religious and theological movements of their day.”

“Any theory intended to describe and analyze socio-historical reality cannot restrict itself to the human spirit and disregard the totality of human nature.”

“The knife of historical relativism... which has cut to pieces all metaphysics and religion must also bring about healing.”

“To attempt this would be like seeing without eyes or directing the gaze of knowledge behind one's own eye. Modern science can acknowledge no other than this epistemological stand-point.”

“The existence of inherent limits of experience in no way settles the question about the subordination of facts of the human world to our knowledge of matter.”

“If there were a science of human beings it would be anthropology that aims at understanding the totality of experience through structural context.”

“However, the sciences of society and of history retained their old subservient relation to metaphysics for a long time - well into the eighteenth century.”

“Thus there arose in me both a need and a plan for the foundation of the human sciences.”