--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are two threats to reason, the…" description: "\"There are two threats to reason, the opinion that one knows the truth about the most important things and the opinion that there is no truth about them..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfa/allan-bloom-4105_extremes_there-are-two-threats-to-reason-the-opin_531774.jpg" --- # There are two threats to reason, the opinion that one… ![“There are two threats to reason, the opinion that one knows the truth about the most important things and the opinion that there is no truth about them. Both of these opinions are fatal to philosophy; the first asserts that the quest for truth is unnecessary, while the second asserts that it is…” quote by Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfa/allan-bloom-4105_extremes_there-are-two-threats-to-reason-the-opin_531774.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfa/allan-bloom-4105_extremes_there-are-two-threats-to-reason-the-opin_531774.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfa/allan-bloom-4105_extremes_there-are-two-threats-to-reason-the-opin_531774.jpg) > “There are two threats to reason, the opinion that one knows the truth about the most important things and the opinion that there is no truth about them. Both of these opinions are fatal to philosophy; the first asserts that the quest for truth is unnecessary, while the second asserts that it is impossible. The Socratic knowledge of ignorance, which I take to be the beginning point of all philosophy, defines the sensible middle ground between two extremes.” [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Both absolute certainty and total skepticism hinder philosophy; a modest, questioning stance is essential. **In simple terms:** Avoid extremes; stay curious. Key Takeaway Embrace humble inquiry over certainty or nihilism. Themes philosophy critical thinking humility Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - academic debate - personal belief systems - political discourse - ethical dilemmas Key Concepts epistemology Socratic method Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize when you’re too certain? - What evidence would shift your view? A Different Perspective Extreme positions can still be persuasive in echo chambers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Extremes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Important things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/important-things/) [Middle ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-ground/) [Opinion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opinion/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Sensible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensible/) [Socratic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/socratic/) [Threat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/threat/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Two extremes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two-extremes/) ## Related quotes > [Most people, whether bull or bear, when they are right, are right for the wrong reason, in my opinion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-lauriston-livermore/most-people-whether-bull-or-bear-when-they-are-right-are-right-for/) [Jesse Lauriston Livermore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-lauriston-livermore/) > [“The physical method becomes a philosophy when it asserts there is no higher knowledge than the empirical knowledge of scientific phenomena. 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Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) > [“The Socratic dialogue was a spiritual exercise designed to produce a profound psychological change in the participants, and because its purpose was that each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/the-socratic-dialogue-was-a-spiritual-exercise-designed-to-produce-a/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [The Socratic teacher turns his students away from himself and back onto themselves; he hides in paradoxes, makes himself inaccessible. The intimate relationship between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-jaspers/the-socratic-teacher-turns-his-students-away-from-himself-and-back/) [Karl Jaspers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-jaspers/) > [Contemporary philosophy illustrates Hegel's dictum that philosophy is its own time apprehended in thought, for in our age philosophy yields to the objectifying technical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-phillip-verene/contemporary-philosophy-illustrates-hegel-s-dictum-that-philosophy-is/) [Donald Phillip Verene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-phillip-verene/) > [I always say I have a Socratic approach to most things that I do. I pummel people with questions, because I need to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-gunn/i-always-say-i-have-a-socratic-approach-to-most-things-that-i-do-i/) [Tim Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-gunn/) > [“Pre-Socratic philosophy begins ... with the discovery of Nature; Socratic philosophy begins with the discovery of man's soul."3”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-b-irvine/pre-socratic-philosophy-begins-with-the-discovery-of-nature-socratic/) [William B. Irvine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-b-irvine/) ## More by Allan Bloom > [There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/there-is-one-thing-a-professor-can-be-absolutely-certain-of-almost/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Authentic values are those by which a life can be lived, which can form a people that produces great deeds and thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/authentic-values-are-those-by-which-a-life-can-be-lived-which-can/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Shakespeare's naturalness is attested to by the strange fact that he is the only classical author who remains popular. The critical termites are massed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/shakespeare-s-naturalness-is-attested-to-by-the-strange-fact-that-he/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [The utilitarian behaves sensibly in all that is required for preservation but never takes account of the fact that he must die...His whole life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/the-utilitarian-behaves-sensibly-in-all-that-is-required-for/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [The longing for Europe has been all but extinguished in the young.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/the-longing-for-europe-has-been-all-but-extinguished-in-the-young/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Students now arrive at the university ignorant and cynical about our political heritage, lacking the wherewithal to be either inspired by it or seriously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/students-now-arrive-at-the-university-ignorant-and-cynical-about-our/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Human nature must not be altered in order to have a problem-free world. Man is not just a problem-solving being, as behaviorists would wish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/human-nature-must-not-be-altered-in-order-to-have-a-problem-free/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Never did I think that the university was properly ministerial to the society around it. Rather I thought and think that society is ministerial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/never-did-i-think-that-the-university-was-properly-ministerial-to-the/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Reason cannot establish values, and its belief that it can is the stupidiest and most pernicious illusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/reason-cannot-establish-values-and-its-belief-that-it-can-is-the/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise... specialized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/fathers-and-mothers-have-lost-the-idea-that-the-highest-aspiration/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [As Western nations became more prosperous, leisure, which had been put off for several centuries in favor of the pursuit of property, the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/as-western-nations-became-more-prosperous-leisure-which-had-been-put/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Historicism and cultural relativism actually are a means to avoid testing our own prejudices and asking, for example, whether men are really equal or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/historicism-and-cultural-relativism-actually-are-a-means-to-avoid/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [“Man requires a healing education which returns him to himself. Rousseau's paradoxes- his attack on the arts and the sciences and his practice of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/man-requires-a-healing-education-which-returns-him-to-himself/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency - the belief that the here and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/the-failure-to-read-good-books-both-enfeebles-the-vision-and/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [Life, liberty, and the pursuit of property were just what Aristotle did not talk about. They are the conditions of happiness; but the essence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/life-liberty-and-the-pursuit-of-property-were-just-what-aristotle-did/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) [Explore all 116 Allan Bloom quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) ## More Extremes quotes > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. 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But it is rude to argue about politics with people you disagree with.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-lessig/it-s-fine-to-talk-about-politics-with-people-you-agree-with-but-it-is/) [Lawrence Lessig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-lessig/) > [Either dragons should exist completely or fail to exist at all, he felt. A dragon only half-existing was worse than the extremes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/either-dragons-should-exist-completely-or-fail-to-exist-at-all-he/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-alekhine/playing-for-complications-is-an-extreme-measure-that-a-player-should/) [Alexander Alekhine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-alekhine/) > [I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-strongly-reject-any-conceptual-scheme-that-places-our-options-on-a/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [My childhood was extreme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tori-amos/my-childhood-was-extreme/) [Tori Amos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tori-amos/) > [I like to push characters to extremes so they have to make really tough decisions and there is no life more extreme than that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/i-like-to-push-characters-to-extremes-so-they-have-to-make-really/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [An excessive preponderance of an idealistic mood is harmful to society: it creates daydreaming, political Don Quixotism, hope for heavenly intervention. 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You have the most extreme tragic drama, this sort of blood-boltered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-monahan/i-think-the-only-real-referent-for-anybody-writing-drama-is-probably/) [William Monahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-monahan/) [Browse all 1,963 Extremes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are two threats to reason, the opinion that one knows the truth about the most important things and the opinion that there is no truth about them. Both of these opinions are fatal to philosophy; the first asserts that the quest for truth is unnecessary, while the second asserts that it is impossible. 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