When knowledge is the slave of social considerations, it defines a special class; when it serves its own ends only, it no longer does so. There is of course a profound logic in this paradox: genuine knowledge is egalitarian in that it allows no privileged source, testers, messengers of Truth. It tolerates no privileged and circumscribed data. The autonomy of knowledge is a leveller.


Plough, Sword and Book (1988).

Ernest Gellner Quotes

When knowledge is the slave of social considerations, it defines a special class; when it serves its own ends only, it no longer does so. There is of ...

When knowledge is the slave of social considerations, it defines a special class; when it serves its own ends only, it no longer does so. There is of ...

When knowledge is the slave of social considerations, it defines a special class; when it serves its own ends only, it no longer does so. There is of ...

When knowledge is the slave of social considerations, it defines a special class; when it serves its own ends only, it no longer does so. There is of ...