The Art of Thinking

by Dagobert D. Runes

Overview

The philosopher and founder of the Philosophical Library explores the nature of human thought, motivation, and logic.

In The Art of Thinking, philosopher Dagobert D. Runes lays out his views on the relationship between logic and emotion. He argues that the human thought process is essentially alike from one person to another—and that if it was not, society would cease to function. What accounts for our diversity of views, however, is the role emotion plays in our formulation of propositions.

Runes analyzes the underlying emotional motivations in the precepts, concepts, and attitudes of modern man. As he demonstrates through this series of essays, motivated thinking infiltrates, and often dominates, prevailing patterns of thought in social, religious, cultural, and even scientific organizations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504064453
Publisher:	Philosophical Library/Open Road
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Dagobert D. Runes was born in Zastavna, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary (now in Ukraine), and received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna in 1924. In 1926 he emigrated to the United States, where he became editor of the Modern Thinker and later Current Digest. From 1931 to 1934 he was director of the Institute for Advanced Education in New York City, and in 1941 he founded the Philosophical Library, a spiritual organization and publishing house.

Runes published an English translation of Karl Marx’s On the Jewish Question under the title A World Without Jews, featuring an introduction that was clearly antagonistic to extreme Marxism and “its materialism,” yet he did not entirely negate Marxist theory. He also edited several works presenting the ideas and history of philosophy to a general audience, including his Dictionary of Philosophy.