This image is the cover for the book Handbook of Reason

Handbook of Reason

The eminent philosopher presents a summation of his views on an encyclopedic range of topics from abstract art to Zionism.

Culled from years of research and introspection, the diverse observations discussed in Handbook of Reason by Dagobert D. Runes are bound to stimulate, challenge, and at times force upon the reader a shock of recognition grounded in universal truths.

In a style that moves from the aphoristic to the metaphorical, Runes offers countless gems of wisdom, often irresistibly quotable, and always profoundly moving. A humanitarian theme evolved partly from personal tragedies permeates his lifelong search for “a life of God the Spirit and the Giver/(Of) God unbound and unencumbered/By hate or prejudice/A god to love by Deeds/Not hollow hymns and vows.”

Dagobert D. Runes

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.

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