Karl Lowith Quotes
Karl Lowith was a German philosopher and a student of Husserl and Heidegger. His doctoral thesis, completed under Heidegger, was followed by a long period of exile in Italy, Japan, and the United States after the rise of National Socialism. The quotes below are attributed to Karl Lowith, organized by topic.
Browse Karl Lowith by topic
Karl Lowith on God
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Attributed to Karl Lowith:
“The progressive idea of history depends on the Christian idea of providence even when it denies it.”
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Attributed to Karl Lowith:
“Without God, history is a meaningless succession of events.”
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“Peter is the apostle of the Father , Paul of the Son , while John is the apostle of the Spirit who is leading to the full truth of the future.”
Meaning in History (1949), p. 210
Karl Lowith on Knowledge
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“The mere fact that Christianity interprets itself as a new Testament, superseding an old one and fulfilling the promises of the latter, necessarily invites further progress and innovations, either religious or irreligious and antireligious—hence the derivation of the secular irreligions of progress from the eschatology of the church, together with their theological pattern.”
Meaning in History (1949), p. 212 -
“From Hegel to Nietzsche , D. Green, trans. (1964), pp. 68-69.”
When one of Feuerbach’s friends attempts to get him an academic position, Feuerbach writes to him: “The more people make of me, the less I am, and vice versa. I am … something only so long as I am nothing.” Hegel felt himself free in the midst of bourgeois restriction. For him, it was by no means impossible as an ordinary official … to be something and at the same time be himself. … In the third e
Karl Lowith on Nature
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Attributed to Karl Lowith:
“Nature has no need of human meaning.”
Karl Lowith on Time
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Attributed to Karl Lowith:
“Modernity is secularized eschatology.”
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Attributed to Karl Lowith:
“Meaning in history is a theological residue.”
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“History, too, is meaningful only by indicating some transcendent purpose beyond the actual facts. ... To venture a statement about the meaning of historical events is possible only when their telos becomes apparent.”
Meaning in History (1949), p. 5