And if we must educate our poets and artists in science, we must educate our masters, labour and capital, in art.
John B. S. HaldaneRead
The conclusion forced upon me in the course of a life devoted to natural science is that the universe as it is assumed to be in physical science is only an idealized world, while the real universe is the spiritual universe in which spiritual values count for everything.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the physical world is a mere representation, while the true essence of the universe lies in spiritual values.
John B. S. Haldane emphasizes that throughout his life in natural science, he has come to realize that the material universe, as portrayed in physical science, is just an abstraction. The genuine reality is the spiritual universe, where spiritual values hold paramount importance, signifying that true understanding transcends physical observations.
Themes
UniverseSpiritualityScienceValuesPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be referenced in a lecture about the intersection of science and spirituality.
More from John B. S. Haldane
All quotes →An attempt to study the evolution of living organisms without reference to cytology would be as futile as an account of stellar evolution which ignored spectroscopy.
John B. S. HaldaneRead
Until politics are a branch of science, we shall do well to regard political and social reforms as experiments rather than short-cuts to the millennium.
John B. S. HaldaneRead
A time will however come (as I believe) when physiology will invade and destroy mathematical physics, as the latter has destroyed geometry.
John B. S. HaldaneRead
My final word, before I'm done, Is "Cancer can be rather fun"- Provided one confronts the tumour with a sufficient sense of humour. I know that cancer often kills, But so do cars and sleeping pills; And it can hurt till one sweats, So can bad teeth and unpaid debts. A spot of laughter, I am sure, Often accelerates one's cure; So let us patients do our bit To help the surgeons make us fit.
John B. S. HaldaneRead
My practise as a scientist is atheistic. That is to say, when I set up an experiment I assume that no god, angel, or devil is going to interfere with its course; and this assumption has been justified by such success as I have achieved in my professional career. I should therefore be intellectually dishonest if I were not also atheistic in the affairs of the world. And I should be a coward if I did not state my theoretical views in public.
John B. S. HaldaneRead
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