Science Cannot Destroy The Consciousness

When One Is Engaged In A Desperate Defense Of One's World And Its Values, Nothing Can Be Given Away, Any Breach In The Walls Might Be Fatal, Every Point Must Be Defended To The Death.

All Central Beliefs On Human Matters Spring From A Personal Predicament.

Only Barbarians Are Not Curious About Where They Come From, How They Came To Be Where They Are, Where They Appear To Be Going, Whether They Wish To Go There, And If So, Why, And If Not, Why Not.

If, As I Believe, The Ends Of Men Are Many, And Not All Of Them Are In Principle Compatible With Each Other, Then The Possibility Of Conflict - And Of Tragedy - Can Never Wholly Be Eliminated From Human Life, Either Personal Or Social. The Necessity Of Choosing Between Absolute Claims Is Then An Inescapable Characteristic Of The Human Condition. This Gives Its Value To Freedom As Acton Conceived Of It - As An End In Itself, And Not As A Temporary Need, Arising Out Of Our Confused Notions And Irrational And Disordered Lives, A Predicament Which A Panacea Could One Day Put Right.

The History Of Society Is The History Of The Inventive Labors That Man Alter Man, Alter His Desires, Habits, Outlook, Relationships Both To Other Men And To Physical Nature, With Which Man Is In Perpetual Physical And Technological Metabolism.