The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding complex ideas can lead to a belief in their truth, regardless of their obscurity.
Georg C. Lichtenberg suggests that when people grasp complicated and abstract concepts, they often become enamored with the understanding itself, which can lead them to uncritically accept the ideas as true. This highlights the potential for cognitive bias where enthusiasm for comprehension may overshadow critical analysis of the actual validity of the concepts presented.
Themes
UnderstandingBeliefTruthKnowledgeCognition
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on philosophy, one might quote this to illustrate how people can misinterpret complex theories.
More from Georg C. Lichtenberg
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Astronomy is perhaps the science whose discoveries owe least to chance, in which human understanding appears in its whole magnitude, and through which man can best learn how small he is.
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The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.
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The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
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Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely. Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war?
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
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