Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue.
Robert K. MertonRead
Anticipatory plagiarism occurs when someone steals your original idea and publishes it a hundred years before you were born.
Interpretation
Anticipatory plagiarism humorously highlights the irony of originality and the complexities of ideas over time.
This quote by Robert K. Merton suggests that the act of claiming an idea as one's own can pre-date the individual by a significant margin, implying that many original ideas may not be entirely unique or can be thought of independently by multiple people throughout history. It humorously addresses the challenges of originality in creative fields, especially in a world where ideas are often shared and evolved over generations.
In practice
When discussing the concept of originality in a creative writing class.
Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue.
Max Weber was right in subscribing to the view that one need not be Caesar in order to understand Caesar. But there is a temptation for us theoretical sociologists to act sometimes as though it is not necessary even to study Caesar in order to understand him. Yet we know that the interplay of theory and research makes both for understanding of the specific case and expansion of the general rule.
The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true. The specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning.
A man may be a Bah' in name only. If he is a Bah' in reality, his deeds and actions will be decisive proofs of it. What are the requirements? Love for mankind, sincerity toward all, reflecting the oneness of the world of humanity, philanthropy, becoming enkindled with the fire of the love of God, attainment to the knowledge of God and that which is conducive to human welfare.
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa! We're little black sheep who've gone astray, Baa-aa-aa! Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree, Damned from here to Eternity, God ha' mercy on such as we, Baa! Yah! Bah!
He found himself still with too many questions and not enough answers.
The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.
When the world is ruled according to the Way, the ghosts lose their power. The ghosts do not really lose their power, but it is not used to harm people.
Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
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