The "ideas" of the average man are not genuine ideas, nor is their possession culture. An idea is a putting truth in checkmate. Whoever wishes to have ideas must first prepare himself to desire truth and to accept the rules of the game imposed by it. It is no use speaking of ideas when there is no acceptance of a higher authority to regulate them, a series of standards to which it is possible to appeal in a discussion.
-- José Ortega y Gasset (1883 - 1955), Spanish philosopher, The Revolt of the Masses (1929) Chap. VIII: The Masses Intervene In Everything, And Why Their Intervention Is Solely By Violence
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