more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
There are many people who imagine that what they experience they also understand.
Gist of Idea
Many people imagine that to experience is to understand
Source
Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 889)
Book Ref
Goethe,J. Wolfgang: 'Maxims and Reflections' [Penguin 1840], p.117
A Reaction
This should be posted over the arrivals gate of every international airport, for returning holiday-makers. It seems to place Goethe on the rationalist side of the debate with empiricism. It is hard to explain 'understanding' in Humean terms.