The way forward does not lie in amateur and comically timeless linguistic sociology which takes 'forms of life ' for granted (and this is what philosophy has been recently), but in the systematic study of forms of life which does… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
Nowledge which... transcends the bounds, the prejudices and prejudgements of any one society and culture is not an illusion but, on the contrary, a… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
Obstruction of mobility, where it occurs, is one of the most serious and intractable problems of industrial society. — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
“It is precisely by binding things together that traditional visions perpetuate themselves and the prejudgments contained within them; and it is by insisting on… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
I am deeply sensitive to the spell of nationalism. I can play about thirty Bohemian folk songs ... on my mouth-organ. My oldest friend,… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
The production of obscurity in Paris compares to the production of motor cars in Detroit in the great period of American industry. — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
“One persistent attempt to find a thread in the history of mankind focuses on the notion of Reason. Human history, on this view, is… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
It is nationalism which engenders nations, and not the other way round. — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
People are even more reluctant to admit that man explains nothing, than they were to admit that God explains nothing. — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
Civil Society is a cluster of institutions and associations strong enough to prevent tyranny, but which are, none the less, entered and left freely,… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
Tribalism never prospers, for when it does, everyone will respect it as a true nationalism, and no-one will dare call it tribalism. — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
In brief, nationalism is a theory of political legitimacy, which requires the ethnic boundaries should not be cut across political ones, and, in particular,… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
Just as every girl should have a husband, preferably her own, so every culture must have its state, preferably its own. — Ernest Gellner Copy Share Image
