1001Philosophers

Wilhelm Dilthey Quotes on Knowledge

Wilhelm Dilthey was a German philosopher and historian who devoted his career to the foundations of the human sciences, the Geisteswissenschaften, against the encroachment of natural-scientific methods. This page collects quotes attributed to Wilhelm Dilthey on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Wilhelm Dilthey:

    “We explain nature, but we understand mental life.”

  • Attributed to Wilhelm Dilthey:

    “Understanding is the rediscovery of the I in the Thou.”

  • Attributed to Wilhelm Dilthey:

    “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”

  • Attributed to Wilhelm Dilthey:

    “All learning is in the end the recognition of the form of one's own existence.”