QuoteProject
Like almost everyone else in America, I grew up believing the myth of the objective scientist. Fortunately I was raised on the edges of two very distinct cultures, western European and American Indian.
Vine Deloria Jr.
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote challenges the notion of objectivity in science, highlighting cultural influences on knowledge.

Vine Deloria Jr. reflects on the prevalent belief in America regarding the 'objective scientist,' a myth that suggests scientists are unbiased and purely rational. He argues that his upbringing, influenced by both Western European and American Indian cultures, has given him a unique perspective that recognizes how cultural backgrounds shape our understanding of science and reality, thus questioning the idea of objectivity as an absolute truth.

Themes

ObjectivityScienceCultureSubjectivityKnowledge

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture about the influence of culture on scientific research, this quote can illustrate the importance of diverse perspectives.

More from Vine Deloria Jr.

Every society needs educated people, but the primary responsibility of educated people is to bring wisdom back into the community and make it available to others so that the lives they are leading make sense.
Vine Deloria Jr.Read
If the tribal peoples actually represented Western origins at a much earlier time, it was exceedingly valuable that they should be studied intensely for clues about the nature and origin of human society. Consequently it was an injury to science and human knowledge to allow the military to simply exterminate them.
Vine Deloria Jr.Read
The bottom line about the information possessed by non-Western peoples is that the information becomes valid only when offered by a white scholar recognized by the academic establishment; in effect, the color of the skin guarantees scientific objectivity.
Vine Deloria Jr.Read

Similar quotes

There are no articles any more that dream about the cities of tomorrow.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
If in a country, most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few, then this country can hardly witness harmony and stability.
Wen JiabaoRead
Repentance can become a very, very deep phenomenon in you if you understand the responsibility. Then even a small thing, if it becomes a repentance-- not just verbal, not just on the surface; if it goes deep to the roots, if you repent from the roots; if your whole being shakes and trembles and cries, and tears come out; not only out of your eyes but out of every cell of your body, then repentance can become a transfiguration.
RajneeshRead
Even as a junkie I stayed true [to vegetarianism] - 'I shall have heroin, but I shan't have a hamburger.' What a sexy little paradox.
Russell BrandRead
I didn't think of myself as an outsider because of my race because... where I grew up I was the same race as almost everyone else... It is true that I noticed things that no one else seemed to notice. And I think only people who are outsiders do this.
Jamaica KincaidRead
The robust English view used to be that the correct response to offensive words is to ignore them, or to answer them with a rebuke. If you invoke the law at all, it should be to protect the one who gives the offence, and not the one who takes it. Now, it seems, it is all the other way round.
Roger ScrutonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.