--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The motive that impels modern reason to…" description: "\"The motive that impels modern reason to know must be described as the desire to conquer and dominate. For the Greek philosophers and the Fathers of the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d7/j-rgen-moltmann-9122_becoming_the-motive-that-impels-modern-reason-to_1263834.jpg" --- # The motive that impels modern reason to know must be… ![“The motive that impels modern reason to know must be described as the desire to conquer and dominate. For the Greek philosophers and the Fathers of the church, knowing meant something different: it meant knowing in wonder. By knowing or perceiving one participates in the life of the other. Here…” quote by Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d7/j-rgen-moltmann-9122_becoming_the-motive-that-impels-modern-reason-to_1263834.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d7/j-rgen-moltmann-9122_becoming_the-motive-that-impels-modern-reason-to_1263834.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d7/j-rgen-moltmann-9122_becoming_the-motive-that-impels-modern-reason-to_1263834.jpg) > “The motive that impels modern reason to know must be described as the desire to conquer and dominate. For the Greek philosophers and the Fathers of the church, knowing meant something different: it meant knowing in wonder. By knowing or perceiving one participates in the life of the other. Here knowing does not transform the counterpart into the property of the knower; the knower does not appropriate what he knows. On the contrary, he is transformed through sympathy, becoming a participant in what he perceives.” [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modern reason seeks domination, while ancient wisdom sees knowing as a shared, transformative wonder. **In simple terms:** Knowing should be relational, not controlling. Key Takeaway Seek knowledge with humility and empathy. Themes knowledge humility wonder transformation Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - education - interfaith dialogue - mentoring - conflict resolution Key Concepts phenomenology theology philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How can we practice knowing as participation? - What habits foster wonder in learning? A Different Perspective Power dynamics can still dominate knowledge pursuits. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Becoming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/becoming/) [Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/church/) [Conquer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conquer/) [Counterparts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/counterparts/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Doe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doe/) [Father](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/father/) [Greek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greek/) [Greek philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greek-philosopher/) [Greek Philosophers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greek-philosophers/) [Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing/) [Knowing Meant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-meant-1634499/) [Knowing Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-wonder-614381/) [Meant Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meant-knowing-499213/) [Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern/) [Motive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motive/) [Perceive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perceive/) [Philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosopher/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Property](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/property/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonder/) ## Related quotes > [Greek philosophers considered sport a religious and civic-in a word, moral-undertaking. Sport, they said, is morally serious because mankind's noblest aim is the loving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/greek-philosophers-considered-sport-a-religious-and-civic-in-a-word/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [Development of Western science is based on two great achievements: the invention of the formal logical system (in Euclidean geometry) by the Greek philosophers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/development-of-western-science-is-based-on-two-great-achievements-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [You get most out of walking by going along briskly, swinging the arms and breathing deeply. 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Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-o-wilson/) > [I started asking the big questions that I had asked in college, that my compatriots the Greek philosophers had asked, like 'what is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arianna-huffington/i-started-asking-the-big-questions-that-i-had-asked-in-college-that/) [Arianna Huffington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arianna-huffington/) > [I have never come across someone who could inspire more respect than the Greek philosophers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/i-have-never-come-across-someone-who-could-inspire-more-respect-than/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Don't let yourself die without knowing the wonder of fucking with love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/don-t-let-yourself-die-without-knowing-the-wonder-of-fucking-with-love/) [Gabriel García Márquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [“Learning how to transform mere ignorance into mystery, simple not knowing into wonder, is a useful skill. Because it turns out that the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/learning-how-to-transform-mere-ignorance-into-mystery-simple-not/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“Knowing we’d finally changed. Knowing this meant it was over. The little we had, the minutiae he’d give me, gone. He was going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/knowing-we-d-finally-changed-knowing-this-meant-it-was-over-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The worst pain in the world is knowing that he meant everything to you but you meant nothing to him](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-worst-pain-in-the-world-is-knowing-that-he-meant-everything-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The people I've known who wanted to become writers, knowing what it meant, did become writers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/the-people-i-ve-known-who-wanted-to-become-writers-knowing-what-it/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) ## More by Jürgen Moltmann > [That is why faith, wherever it develops into hope, causes not rest but unrest, not patience but impatience… Those who hope in Christ can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/that-is-why-faith-wherever-it-develops-into-hope-causes-not-rest-but/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [To reinvent your own country you need a great audacity of hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/to-reinvent-your-own-country-you-need-a-great-audacity-of-hope/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [“Here the crucified Christ was seen less as the sacrifice which God creates to reconcile the world to himself, and more as the exemplary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/here-the-crucified-christ-was-seen-less-as-the-sacrifice-which-god/) [Jurgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [God weeps with us so that we may one day laugh with him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/god-weeps-with-us-so-that-we-may-one-day-laugh-with-him/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [“When the fear of death leaves us, the destructive craving for life leaves us too. 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Not even in the Revelation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/no-where-else-in-christianity-does-the-terrible-or-heroic-name-of/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [Despair can be like an iron band constricting the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/despair-can-be-like-an-iron-band-constricting-the-heart/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [“The problem of modern man is no longer so much how he can live with gods and demons, but how he can survive with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/the-problem-of-modern-man-is-no-longer-so-much-how-he-can-live-with/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [“with Christ in faith a wholly new life begins. It is not a restored life, and it is not a rejuvenated life either. 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