Exact knowledge is the enemy of vitalism.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that an obsession with precise knowledge can hinder the appreciation of the dynamic, life-giving aspects of existence.
Francis Crick's statement points to a tension between the pursuit of exact scientific knowledge and the more fluid, unpredictable nature of life, often associated with vitalism. He implies that an excessive focus on dissecting and understanding the minutiae of biological processes can overshadow the essence and spontaneity of life itself, which is vital and cannot be fully captured by rigid definitions and formulas.
In practice
In a debate on the balance between scientific accuracy and the essence of living systems.
One can say, looking at the papers in this symposium, that the elucidation of the genetic code is indeed a great achievement. It is, in a sense, the key to molecular biology because it shows how the great polymer languages, the nucleic acid language and the protein language, are linked together.
A theory should not attempt to explain all the facts, because some of the facts are wrong
It is essential to understand our brains in some detail if we are to assess correctly our place in this vast and complicated universe we see all around us.
To produce a really good biological theory one must try to see through the clutter produced by evolution to the basic mechanisms lying beneath them, realizing that they are likely to be overlaid by other, secondary mechanisms. What seems to physicists to be a hopelessly complicated process may have been what nature found simplest, because nature could only build on what was already there.
It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.
In the fullness of time, educated people will believe there is no soul independent of the body, and hence no life after death.
At this time is freedom anything but the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.
The spectacle is at the same time the mirage of self in the mirror of things.
Of course, Behaviourism 'works'. So does torture. Give me a no-nonsense, down-to-earth behaviourist, a few drugs, and simple electrical appliances, and in six months I will have him reciting the Athanasian Creed in public.
The point of asylum is not to declare to the world what country you think is the pinnacle of civilization. The point of asylum is to find a country that's both willing and able to protect you from political persecution. In no way is asylum an endorsement of a country's politics, laws, or values.
Nothing that was real ever died, only names, forms, and illusions.
Every good man progressively becomes God. To become God, to be man, and to educate oneself, are expressions that are synonymous.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.