All practical teachers know that education is a patient process of mastery of details, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanation of complex facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be ``Seek simplicity and distrust it.''
Interpretation
What this quote means
Science aims to simplify complex realities, but we must remain cautious as simplicity can mislead us.
This quote from Alfred North Whitehead emphasizes the essential purpose of science: to distill complex phenomena into simpler explanations. However, he warns that the pursuit of simplicity can lead to oversimplification, potentially obscuring the true nature of facts. Therefore, while striving for simplicity can guide scientific inquiry, it is crucial to maintain a critical perspective and recognize that what appears simple may be rooted in much more complex truths.
Themes
ScienceSimplicityComplexityUnderstandingPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on scientific methodology, one might quote Whitehead to emphasize the importance of rigorous analysis and caution against oversimplification.
More from Alfred North Whitehead
All quotes →The vitality of thought is in adventure. Idea's won't keep. Something must be done about them. When the idea is new, its custodians have fervour, live for it, and, if need be, die for it. Their inheritors receive the idea, perhaps now strong and successful, but without inheriting the fervour; so the idea settles down to a comfortable middle age, turns senile, and dies.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, seek simplicity and distrust it.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
As society is now constituted, a literal adherence to the moral precepts scattered throughout the Gospels would mean sudden death.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
I consider Christianity to be one of the great disasters of the human race... It would be impossible to imagine anything more un - Christianlike than theology.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
Inventive genius requires pleasurable mental activity as a condition for its vigorous exercise. "Necessity is the mother of invention" is a silly proverb. "Necessity is the mother of futile dodges" is much closer to the truth. The basis of growth of modern invention is science, and science is almost wholly the outgrowth of pleasurable intellectual curiosity.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
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