Tout est poison, rien n'est poison, tout est une question de dose. Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose.
Claude BernardRead
First causes are outside the realm of science.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that fundamental reasons or origins of things cannot be fully explained by scientific inquiry.
Claude Bernard's quote emphasizes the limitations of science in addressing the ultimate causes of existence. It implies that while science is invaluable for understanding the mechanics of the natural world, it may not reach the deeper philosophical questions surrounding the origins and fundamental purposes of life and existence, which often lie beyond empirical observation and reasoning.
Themes
SciencePhilosophyCausationExistenceLimits
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the limitations of scientific inquiry, one might use this quote to illustrate philosophical perspectives.
More from Claude Bernard
All quotes βWhen a physician is called to a patient, he should decide on the diagnosis, then the prognosis, and then the treatment. ... Physicians must know the evolution of the disease, its duration and gravity in order to predict its course and outcome. Here statistics intervene to guide physicians, by teaching them the proportion of mortal cases, and if observation has also shown that the successful and unsuccessful cases can be recognized by certain signs, then the prognosis is more certain.
Claude BernardRead
The goal of scientific physicians in their own science ... is to reduce the indeterminate. Statistics therefore apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still indeterminate.
Claude BernardRead
Theories are like a stairway; by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
Claude BernardRead
True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
Claude BernardRead
Now, a living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine endowed with the most marvellous properties and set going by means of the most complex and delicate mechanism.
Claude BernardRead
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