1001Philosophers

Markus Gabriel Quotes

Markus Gabriel is a German philosopher, professor at the University of Bonn, and the youngest holder of a German philosophy chair when he was appointed in 2009. Why the World Does Not Exist and Fields of Sense developed his New Realism, in which there is no all-encompassing world but an irreducible plurality of fields of sense, each with its own conditions of existence. The quotes below are attributed to Markus Gabriel, organized by topic.

Markus Gabriel on Knowledge

  • “I could become a member of the Islamic movement and embrace Islam according to the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad . Muhammad said, "I left you with something [the Quran]. If you hold on to what I left with you, you will not be led astray forever.”

    My conversations with him drove me to pour over the Quran and the books of the Islamic law , hoping to find something to contradict what he said. I couldn’t change the reality of what I read. As a Muslim, I realized I had two options:

  • “SECTION I, MY STORY, 1 Disillusioned at Al-Azhar”

    My conversations with him drove me to pour over the Quran and the books of the Islamic law , hoping to find something to contradict what he said. I couldn’t change the reality of what I read. As a Muslim, I realized I had two options:

Markus Gabriel on Life

  • “The root of Islamic terrorism is the fundamentalist application of the Quran and the life of Muhammad.”

    Mark A. Gabriel , "Journey Into the Mind of an Islamic Terrorist", page. 169.

Markus Gabriel on Mind

  • Attributed to Markus Gabriel:

    “I am not a brain; I am a person, and persons are not identical to any organ.”

  • “Mark A. Gabriel , "Journey Into the Mind of an Islamic Terrorist", page. 169.”

    The root of Islamic terrorism is the fundamentalist application of the Quran and the life of Muhammad.

Markus Gabriel on Nature

  • Attributed to Markus Gabriel:

    “The world does not exist.”

Markus Gabriel on Politics

  • “I could continue to embrace the "Christianized" Islam—the Islam of peace, love, forgiveness and compassion, the Islam tailor-made to fit Egyptian government, politics and culture—thereby keeping my job and status.”

    My conversations with him drove me to pour over the Quran and the books of the Islamic law , hoping to find something to contradict what he said. I couldn’t change the reality of what I read. As a Muslim, I realized I had two options:

Markus Gabriel on Truth

  • Attributed to Markus Gabriel:

    “Existence is appearing in a field of sense.”

  • Attributed to Markus Gabriel:

    “New realism is the thesis that there are objects, not only thoughts about objects.”

Markus Gabriel on Virtue

  • Attributed to Markus Gabriel:

    “Moral progress is real, even when it is uneven and contested.”