Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.
Isaac NewtonRead
The best and safest way of philosophising seems to be, first to enquire diligently into the properties of things, and to establish those properties by experiences [experiments] and then to proceed slowly to hypotheses for the explanation of them. For hypotheses should be employed only in explaining the properties of things, but not assumed in determining them; unless so far as they may furnish experiments.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Effective philosophy requires careful observation and experimentation before forming hypotheses.
This quote by Isaac Newton emphasizes the importance of thorough investigation and empirical evidence in the pursuit of knowledge. He suggests that one should first study the properties of things through observation and experiments, establishing a solid foundation before proposing hypotheses to explain them, thus advocating for a methodical and evidence-based approach to understanding the world.
Themes
PhilosophyExperimentationHypothesesKnowledgeScience
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom discussion on scientific methodology, this quote can highlight the importance of experimental evidence.
More from Isaac Newton
All quotes →His epitaph: Who, by vigor of mind almost divine, the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, and the tides of the seas first demonstrated.
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And from true lordship it follows that the true God is living, intelligent, and powerful; from the other perfections, that he is supreme, or supremely perfect. He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, he endures from eternity to eternity; and he is present from infinity to infinity; he rules all things, and he knows all things that happen or can happen.
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My Design in this Book is not to explain the Properties of Light by Hypotheses, but to propose and prove them by Reason and Experiments: In order to which, I shall premise the following Definitions and Axioms.
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It is the weight, not numbers of experiments that is to be regarded.
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Poetry is a kind of ingenious nonsense.
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