All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
Interpretation
Diderot emphasizes that abstract sciences focus on understanding the connections and meanings between signs rather than the signs themselves.
In this quote, Denis Diderot suggests that abstract sciences, such as mathematics or logic, are fundamentally about interpreting and analyzing the relationships between symbols and concepts. He implies that understanding these relationships provides insight into the underlying principles of knowledge and reality, rather than treating the symbols in isolation.
In practice
In a lecture on the philosophy of science, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of understanding the connections in abstract thinking.
The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.
This root [the potato], no matter how much you prepare it, is tasteless and floury. It cannot pass for an agreeable food, but it supplies a food sufficiently abundant and sufficiently healthy for men who ask only to sustain themselves. The potato is criticized with reason for being windy, but what matters windiness for the vigorous organisms of peasants and laborers?
Do you see this egg? With this you can topple every theological theory, every church or temple in the world.
There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.
In order to get as much fame as one's father one has to much more able than he.
What is a monster? A being whose survival is incompatible with the existing order.
It isn't the oceans which cut us off from the world - it's the American way of looking at things.
If you go searching for the Great Creator, you will come back empty-handed. The source of the universe is ultimately unknowable, a great invisible river flowing forever through a vast and fertile valley. Silent and uncreated, it creates all things.
One should absorb the colour of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar.
If Ireland is to become a new Ireland she must first become European.
There are many female gods recognized and honored by the tribes and Nations. Femaleness was highly valued, both respected and feared, and all social institutions reflected this attitude. Even modern sayings, such as the Cheyenne statement that a people is not conquered until the hearts of the women are on the ground, express the Indians understanding that without the power of woman the people will not live, but with it, they will endure and prosper.
...when everything else fails, we communicate in the language of the stars
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