quotations about absolutism
[Absolutism] is often intolerant toward other philosophies, militant in the need to proselytize, and totalitarian in its attempts to silence anyone expressing an opinion which evidences shades of difference from the official line.
SAUL ADELMAN
"An Antifundamentalist Rejoinder", National Forum, fall 1990
Only the madman is absolutely sure.
ROBERT ANTON WILSON
Masks of the Illuminati
How are you going to teach virtue if you teach the relativity of all ethical ideas? Virtue, if it implies anything at all, implies an ethical absolute. A person whose idea of what is proper varies from day to day can be admired for his broadmindedness, but not for his virtue.
ROBERT M. PIRSIG
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Absolutism is conceptually feasible ... where absolutism is taken as the exclusion of variation in the application of a rule that unites the whole. But whether absolutism is practically feasible is a different matter, given that there are always circumstances that may force abandonment of the rule.
PRESTON KING
Trusting in Reason
Triangulation is a carrot to be employed first, while absolutism is a stick of last resort.
MICHAEL HARRIS
"Polarised Bashir debate fails to understand foreign policy", Business Day Live, July 23, 2015
It is possible that the distinction between moral relativism and moral absolutism has sometimes been blurred because an excessively consistent practice of either leads to the same practical result -- ruthlessness in political life.
RICHARD HOFSTADTER
introduction, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R.
Relativists say that relativism is true. To be consistent, they must say that relativism is relatively true. In turn, absolutists say that absolutism is true. To be consistent, in turn, they must say that absolutism is absolutely true.... So understood, absolutism and relativism are not on the same playing field.... The statements "Absolutism is absolutely true" and "Relativism is relatively true" do not contradict. The relativist cannot say, "Relativism is true" in the same sense of truth that the absolutist deploys when he says, "Absolutism is true." Between them, the very idea of truth must be equivocal. Each begs the question of truth itself.
MICHAEL KRAUSZ
Dialogues on Relativism, Absolutism, and Beyond
The problem with many Americans is they will readily see the danger of other person's absolutism, but are slow to recognize the danger of their own. It is easy to say, "But my absolutism is based in the real truth. It is different from the garden variety of narrow-minded absolutism.
JAMES C. ALEXANDER
Stories of a Recovering Fundamentalist
The relativists are looking at the magnitude of the wave while the absolutists are looking at the height of the tide.
NATE SILVER
"Is 2014 a Republican Wave?", 538, November 4, 2014
In the light of absolute values (religious or ethical) man himself is judged to be limited or imperfect, while he can occasionally accomplish acts which partake of perfection, he, himself can never be perfect.
T. E. HULME
Speculations
Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
"Am I an Atheist or an Agnostic?", A Plea for Tolerance in the Face of New Dogmas
Policy wonks, aspirationalists and absolutists are themselves not sufficient to meet the needs of a fractured and complicated nation.
PHIL BRONSTEIN
"Lessons of Philippines' 'People Power' revolution, 30 years later", SFGate, February 25, 2016
All parties without exception, when they seek for power, are varieties of absolutism.
PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
attributed, Crown's Book of Political Quotations
One can become an absolutist for any belief. The belief matters less to the absolutist than the freedom they gain through their absolutism. Many people today who demand more freedom are really talking about the freedom to not have to learn anything more. It's not freedom of thought but freedom from thinking, wondering, or reconsidering.
JEREMY SHERMAN
"The More Accurate Term for 'Extremist' We Should All Consider Adopting", AlterNet, December 9, 2016
But after one absolutism is destroyed by a revolutionary attack, the victor establishes itself in equally absolute terms. This is almost unavoidable, because the attack was victorious through the strength of an absolute claim, often of a utopian character. Revolutionary reason believes just as deeply as traditionalism that it represents unchangeable truth.
PAUL TILLICH
Systemic Theology
Moderation and not absolutism is the need of the hour.
ZAHIR ZAKARIA
"Is Modi's development plan only about imposing bans?", daily O, September 8, 2015
Every truth--if it really is truth--presents itself as universal, even if it is not the whole truth. If something is true, then it must be true for all people and at all times. Beyond this universality, however, people seek an absolute which might give to all their searching a meaning and an answer--something ultimate, which might serve as the ground of all things. In other words, they seek a final explanation, a supreme value, which refers to nothing beyond itself and which puts an end to all questioning. Hypotheses may fascinate, but they do not satisfy. Whether we admit it or not, there comes for everyone the moment when personal existence must be anchored to a truth recognized as final, a truth which confers a certitude no longer open to doubt.Through the centuries, philosophers have sought to discover and articulate such a truth, giving rise to various systems and schools of thought. But beyond philosophical systems, people seek in different ways to shape a "philosophy" of their own--in personal convictions and experiences, in traditions of family and culture, or in journeys in search of life's meaning under the guidance of a master. What inspires all of these is the desire to reach the certitude of truth and the certitude of its absolute value.
POPE JOHN PAUL II
Encyclical letter, Fides et Ratio, Sep. 14, 1998
Absolutists might tell you that they're absolutists because their beliefs are so compelling. I think it's the opposite. The desire to be finished wondering and doubting themselves compels them to find a belief to hold absolutely. The logical power of the dogma doesn't compel their tail-wagging certainty. Rather, the appetite for tail-wagging certainty wags the dogma. The absolutists' need to be absolutely committed to a belief compels them to pretend that their belief is absolutely right.
JEREMY SHERMAN
"The More Accurate Term for 'Extremist' We Should All Consider Adopting", AlterNet, December 9, 2016
Those who claim absolutism is merely a myth are right that it has been misused simply as a byword for political centralisation.
PETER WILSON
Absolutism in Central Europe
I have learned that absolutism is an invalid way to judge humans, humanity is all about relativism.
IBRAHIM HALAWA
"Ibrahim Halawa writes his graduation speech from Egyptian prison", Newstalk, September 27, 2016