Ivan Illich and education

Ivan Illich (1926-2002) was an Austrian philosopher and theologian. The rest of this post is some quotes from Illich.

Education

"Most learning is not the result of instruction. It is rather the result of unhampered participation in a meaningful setting." (Deschooling Society, 1971)

"The most radical alternative to school would be a network or service which gave man the same opportunity to share his current concern with others motivated by the same concern." (The Dawn of the Epimethean Man and Other Essays, 1970)

"The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing and caring." (Deschooling Society, 1971)

Change

"Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step... If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story." (AZQuotes.com)

Denis Diderot and the Encyclopédie

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a French philosopher best known for co-founding the Encyclopédie project. The rest of this post is some quotes from Diderot.

1. "This is a work that cannot be completed except by a society of men of letters and skilled workmen, each working separately on his own part, but all bound together solely by their zeal for the best interests of the human race and a feeling of mutual good will." (Encyclopédie, 1751-1766)

2. "Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory." (Quoted in Dictionary of Thoughts by Tyron Edwards)

3. "As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in a an immense multitude of bound volumes." (Encyclopédie, 1751-1766)

4. "I picture the vast realm of the sciences as an immense landscape scattered with patches of dark and light. The goal towards which we must work is either to extend the boundaries of the patches of light, or to increase their number. One of these tasks falls to the creative genius; the other requires a sort of sagacity combined with perfectionism." (Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature, 1754)

Friedrich Schlegel and literature

Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) was a German philosopher. The rest of this post is some quotes from Schlegel.

1. "In a perfect literature all books should be only a single book and in such an eternally developing book, the gospel of humanity and culture will be revealed." (Lucinde and the Fragments, 1971 posthumous)

2. "Do not waste your faith and love on the political world, but, in the divine world of science and art, offer up your inmost being in a fiery stream of eternal creation." (Lucinde and the Fragments, 1971 posthumous)

3. "Aphorisms are the true form of the universal philosophy." (Athenaeum Fragments, 1798)

4. "A perfect project should simultaneously be entirely subjective and entirely objective." (Athenaeum Fragments, 1798)

Martha Nussbaum and ethics

Martha Nussbaum (1947 - now) is an American philosopher. The rest of this post is some quotes from Nussbaum.

Ethics

"...the humanities prepare students to be good citizens and help them understand a complicated, interlocking world. The humanities teach us critical thinking, how to analyze arguments and how to imagine life from the point of view of someone unlike yourself." (Interview with William D. Adams, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2017)

"Knowledge is no guarantee of good behavior, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behavior (Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, 2012)

Reason

"Notice that all the traditional things philosophers do, looking for validity and soundness, promote civic friendship. That sounds pretty pie in the sky, yes, but I actually believe it." (Interview with William D. Adams, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2017)

Lev Vygotsky and education

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist. The rest of this post is some quotes from Vygotsky.

Play

"In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself. As in the focus of a magnifying glass, play contains all developmental tendencies in a condensed form and is itself a major source of development." (Mind in Society, 1978 posthumous)

Language

"Language is the tool of the tools." (AZQuotes.com)

"Thought is not merely expressed in words, it comes into existence through them." (AZQuotes.com)

Leo Szilard and the atomic bomb

Leo Szilard (1898-1964) was a Hungarian physicist best known for writing the Einstein-Szilard letter to Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 that lead to the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. The rest of this post is some quotes from Szilard.

Success

"The most important step in getting a job done is the recognition of the problem. Once I recognize a problem I can think of someone who can work it out better than I could." (Quoted in Close-up: I'm Looking for a Market for Wisdom, LIFE Magazine, 1961)

"In order to succeed it is not necessary to be much clever than other people. All you have to do is be one day ahead of them." (Quoted in Close-up: I'm Looking for a Market for Wisdom, LIFE Magazine, 1961)

Science

"A scientist's aim in a discussion with his colleagues is not to persuade, but to clarify." (The Voice of Dolphins and Other Stories, 1961)

"In science it is not enough to think of an important problem on which to work. It is also necessary to know the means which could be used to investigate the problem." (AZQuotes.com)

Thomas Mann and simplicity

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was a German writer and received the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature. The rest of this post is some quotes from Mann.

Language

"Speech is civilization itself." (The Magic Mountain, 1924)

"An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness, for speech is itself a critique of life: it names, it characterizes, it passes judgement, in that it creates." (Speech at the Prussian Academy of Art in Berlin, 1929)

Simplicity

"Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of the subject - the actual enemy is the unknown." (The Magic Mountain, 1924)