1001Philosophers

Leon Brunschvicg Quotes

Leon Brunschvicg was a French philosopher and the leading representative of French rationalist idealism in the first decades of the twentieth century. Long-time professor at the Sorbonne and a co-founder with Xavier Leon of the Revue de Metaphysique et de Morale, he taught a generation of French philosophers including Sartre, Beauvoir, Cavailles, and Levinas. The quotes below are attributed to Leon Brunschvicg, organized by topic.

Leon Brunschvicg on Knowledge

  • Attributed to Leon Brunschvicg:

    “Science is the laboratory in which philosophy meets reality.”

Read all Leon Brunschvicg quotes on Knowledge

Leon Brunschvicg on Mind

  • Attributed to Leon Brunschvicg:

    “The history of mathematics is the autobiography of the human mind.”

  • Attributed to Leon Brunschvicg:

    “Reason is what the human spirit has done, not a faculty given once for all.”

  • Attributed to Leon Brunschvicg:

    “Self-knowledge is achieved in the works of intelligence, not in introspection.”

Leon Brunschvicg on Nature

  • Attributed to Leon Brunschvicg:

    “Each great theory in physics widens our notion of what it is to be.”