“One persistent attempt to find a thread in the history of mankind focuses on the notion of Reason. Human history, on this view, is the unfolding of rationality. Human thought, institutions, social organization, become progressively more rational. The idea that… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share
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, who is Czech and a patriot, cannot bear to hear me play them because he says I do it in such a schmalzy way, 'crying into the mouth organ'. I do not think I could have… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share
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 the unfolding of rationality. Human thought, institutions, social organization, become progressively more rational. The idea that Reason is the goal or end-point of the development of mankind can fuse with the view that it also constitutes… — Ernest Gellner Copy Share
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
