---
title: "1 Understanding History Quotes By Raymond Geuss"
description: "1 Understanding History quotes by Raymond Geuss. Plus more from Raymond Geuss and more Understanding History sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f4/raymond-geuss-30809_history_can-one-understand-politics-without-unde_3054952.jpg"
---

> [Can one understand politics without understanding history, especially the history of political thought, and will this distinguish political philosophy from some other kinds of philosophy (such as, perhaps, logic) to which the study of history is not integral?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/can-one-understand-politics-without-understanding-history-especially/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f4/raymond-geuss-30809_history_can-one-understand-politics-without-unde_3054952.jpg)

## More by Raymond Geuss

> [It would be a mistake to believe that one could come to any substantive understanding of politics by discussing abstractly the good, the right,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/it-would-be-a-mistake-to-believe-that-one-could-come-to-any/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [In some central and important cases, ... the existence of specific power relations in the society will produce an appearance of a particular kind.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/in-some-central-and-important-cases-the-existence-of-specific-power/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [Monotheistic religions in the West have tended to conflate having a general orientation in life, having a specific theory of the world, having a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/monotheistic-religions-in-the-west-have-tended-to-conflate-having-a/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [We do not wish to "judge" or assess out surrounding merely as a kind of expressive activity carelessly projected onto the world, but we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/we-do-not-wish-to-judge-or-assess-out-surrounding-merely-as-a-kind-of/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [Neither the good nor the true is self-realizing, so it is not generally a sufficient explanation of why people believe that X is true,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/neither-the-good-nor-the-true-is-self-realizing-so-it-is-not/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [The idea that all problems either have a solution or can be shown to be pseudo-problems is not one I share.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/the-idea-that-all-problems-either-have-a-solution-or-can-be-shown-to/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [Humans in modern societies are driven by a perhaps desperate hope that they might find some way of mobilizing their theoretical and empirical knowledge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/humans-in-modern-societies-are-driven-by-a-perhaps-desperate-hope/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [When Catullus expresses his love and hate for Lesbia, he is not obviously voicing a wish to rid himself of one or the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/when-catullus-expresses-his-love-and-hate-for-lesbia-he-is-not/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [Nietzsche seems sometimes to replace the "transcendence" which stands at the center of traditional accounts the existence of a transcendent God, or, failing that,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/nietzsche-seems-sometimes-to-replace-the-transcendence-which-stands/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [Asking what the question is, and why the question is asked, is always asking a pertinent question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/asking-what-the-question-is-and-why-the-question-is-asked-is-always/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [It is an assumption that there is always one single dimension for assessing persons and their actions that has canonical priority. This is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/it-is-an-assumption-that-there-is-always-one-single-dimension-for/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [The Kantian philosophy is no more than at best a half-secularized version of such a theocratic ethics, with "Reason" in the place of God.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/the-kantian-philosophy-is-no-more-than-at-best-a-half-secularized/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [One way ... in which a political philosophy can be ideological is by presenting a relatively marginal issue as if it were central and essential.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/one-way-in-which-a-political-philosophy-can-be-ideological-is-by/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [A major danger in using highly abstractive methods in political philosophy is that one will succeed merely in generalizing one's own local prejudices and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/a-major-danger-in-using-highly-abstractive-methods-in-political/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

> [The general point that a political theory is, among other things, a partisan intervention, is well taken. So question about the actual political implication…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-geuss/the-general-point-that-a-political-theory-is-among-other-things-a/)

[Raymond Geuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-geuss/)

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