Karl Mannheim Quotes

#1. ideology signifies a phenomenon intermediate between a simple lie at one pole, and an error, which is the result of a distorted and faulty conceptual apparatus, at the other.

Karl Mannheim

#2. The distrust and suspicion which men everywhere evidence toward their adversaries, at all states of historical development, may be regarded as the immediate precursor to the notion of ideology.

Karl Mannheim

#3. All knowledge is oriented toward some object and is influenced in its approach by the nature of the object with which it is pre-occupied. But the mode of approach to the object to be known is dependent upon the nature of the knower.

Karl Mannheim

#4. As long as one does not call his own position into question but regards it as absolute, while interpreting his opponents' ideas as a mere function of the social positions they occupy, the decisive step forward has not yet been taken.

Karl Mannheim

#5. Behind every rational and irrational force in human society there is a social mechanism which determines where it is to appear and what forms it is to take.

Karl Mannheim

#6. For progressive people the present is the beginning of the future. For conservative people the present is the end of the past.

Karl Mannheim

#7. [W]hen the empirical investigator glories in his refusal to go beyond the specialized observation dictated by the traditions of his discipline, be they ever so inclusive, he is making a virtue out of a defense mechanism which insures him against questioning his presuppositions.

Karl Mannheim