Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.
Interpretation
Expert consensus is not infallible; they can still be wrong.
This quote by Bertrand Russell emphasizes the fallibility of expert opinions, suggesting that just because a group of experts reaches a consensus doesn't guarantee that they are correct. It serves as a reminder to remain critical and open-minded, encouraging individuals to question authority and seek truth beyond seemingly unanimous expert agreement.
In practice
In a debate, you could use this quote to emphasize the importance of questioning expert consensus.
St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
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Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation - is that good for the world?
A man can spend several hours sitting cross-legged in the same position if he knows that noting prevents him from changing it; but if he knows that he has to sit with his legs crossed like that, he will get cramps, his legs will twitch and strain towards where he would like to stretch them.
At least I know I'm bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe.
To believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous as what we call stars, renders the Christian faith at once little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the air.
You don't like to be lied to, by your friends or in your business dealings. So why would you want to be lied to when it comes to the origin of life or the fate of the planet?
It is so many years before one can believe enough in what one feels even to know what the feeling is
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