... in all knowledge, insofar as knowledge is not a mere conceptual analysis (if not plain logic chopping), it is the external reality, nay the reality of the universe, that makes possible the intellecutal act which is to know things and without which there can be no knowledge about knowledge, not even a knowledge about one's very self. To know this is the beginning of that wisdom whose love is philosophy. To never forget this is the hallmark of the philosopher who is a lover of wisdom before he tries, by criticism, to refine and deepen his love for it.

S. L. Jaki