Science operates in the natural, not the supernatural. In fact, I go so far as to state that there is no such thing as the supernatural or the paranormal.
Michael ShermerRead
My libertarian beliefs have not always served me well. Like most people who hold strong ideological convictions, I find that, too often, my beliefs trump the scientific facts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ideological beliefs can sometimes overshadow objective truths.
In this quote, Michael Shermer reflects on the conflict between personal beliefs and scientific evidence. He acknowledges that strong convictions, particularly libertarian ones, may lead individuals to prioritize their ideology over factual information, highlighting a common human tendency to distort or reject scientific findings in favor of entrenched opinions.
Themes
BeliefsScienceIdeologyTruthConvictions
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about climate change, this quote can illustrate how beliefs can cloud judgment.
More from Michael Shermer
All quotes →Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.
Michael ShermerRead
Being deeply knowledgeable on one subject narrows one's focus and increases confidence, but it also blurs dissenting views until they are no longer visible, thereby transforming data collection into bias confirmation and morphing self-deception into self-assurance.
Michael ShermerRead
How can we find spiritual meaning in a scientific worldview? Spirituality is a way of being in the world, a sense of one’s place in the cosmos, a relationship to that which extends beyond oneself. . . . Does scientific explanation of the world diminish its spiritual beauty? I think not. Science and spirituality are complementary, not conflicting; additive, not detractive. Anything that generates a sense of awe may be a source of spirituality. Science does this in spades. (158-159)
Michael ShermerRead
But because we live in an age of science, we have a preoccupation with corroborating our myths.
Michael ShermerRead
I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know.
Michael ShermerRead
Similar quotes
A boy's will is the wind's will.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
Realising the healthy international relations can be created only among populations made up of individuals who themselves are healthy and enjoy a measure a independence, the United Nations elaborated a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 10, 1948.
Albert EinsteinRead
Policy makers, like most people, normally feel that they already know all the psychology and all the sociology they are likely to need for their decisions. I don't think they are right, but that's the way it is.
Daniel KahnemanRead
'Memory.' 'Race.' 'Murder.' That's what they say about me. I am an elegiac poet. I have some historical questions, and I'm grappling with ways to make sense of history; why it still haunts us in our most intimate relationships with each other, but also in our political decisions.
Natasha TretheweyRead
For thousands of years, men have written history, so it seems to me that most of what we've read is from the male point of view.
Stacy SchiffRead
Shiloh isn’t haunted – men are haunted. Shiloh doesn’t care.
Thomas HarrisRead