(?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)
Hannah Arendt

“Thought and cognition are not the same. Thought, the source of art works, is manifest without transformation or transfiguration in all great philosophy, whereas the chief manifestation of the cognitive processes, by which we acquire and store up knowledge, is the sciences. Cognition always pursues a definite aim, which can be set by practical considerations as well as by “idle curiosity”; but once this aim is reached, the cognitive process has come to an end. Thought, on the contrary, has neither an end nor an aim outside itself, and it does not even produce results; not only the utilitarian philosophy of homo faber but also the men of action and the lovers of results in the sciences have never tired of pointing out how entirely “useless” thought is—as useless, indeed, as the works of art it inspires.”

Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition
Read more quotes from Hannah Arendt


Share this quote:
Share on Twitter

Friends Who Liked This Quote

To see what your friends thought of this quote, please sign up!


This Quote Is From

The Human Condition The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt
9,273 ratings, average rating, 659 reviews
Open Preview

Browse By Tag