Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.
Jacob BronowskiRead
Many theories of the ancient world seem terribly childish today, a hodge-podge of fables and false comparisons.But our theories will seem childish five-hundred years from now.Every theory is based on some analogy, and sooner or later the theory fails because the analogy turns out to be false. A theory in its day helps to solve the problems of the day.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our current theories may seem flawed in the future, just as ancient theories do today.
Jacob Bronowski reflects on the nature of scientific and philosophical theories, suggesting that what we consider true and rational today may appear naive or misguided in centuries to come. He emphasizes the idea that theories are built on analogies that eventually may prove to be inaccurate, highlighting the evolving understanding of knowledge and the limitations of human reasoning in addressing the complexities of the universe.
Themes
TheoryKnowledgeAnalogyUnderstandingPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a scientific conference when discussing the evolution of ideas over time.
More from Jacob Bronowski
All quotes →There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy.
Jacob BronowskiRead
To me the most interesting thing about man is that he is an animal who practices art and science and in every known society practices both together.
Jacob BronowskiRead
A man becomes creative, whether he is an artist or scientist, when he finds a new unity in the variety of nature. He does so by finding a likeness between things which were not thought alike before.
Jacob BronowskiRead
The values by which we are to survive are not rules for just and unjust conduct, but are those deeper illuminations in whose light justice and injustice, good and evil, means and ends are seen in fearful sharpness of outline.
Jacob BronowskiRead
The basis for poetry and scientific discovery is the ability to comprehend the unlike in the like and the like in the unlike.
Jacob BronowskiRead
Similar quotes
Society is one vast conspiracy for carving one into the kind of statue likes, and then placing it in the most convenient niche it has.
Randolph BourneRead
Evey Hammond: Who are you? V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask. Evey Hammond: Well I can see that. V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is
Alan MooreRead
On religion in particular, the time appears to me to have come, when it is a duty of all who, being qualified in point of knowledge, have, on mature consideration, satisfied themselves that the current opinions are not only false, but hurtful, to make their dissent known.
John Stuart MillRead
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
George WillRead
For all professional pilots there exists a kind of guild, without charter and without by-laws. it demands no requirements for inclusion save an understanding of the wind, the compass, the rudder, and fair fellowship.
Beryl MarkhamRead
Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.
Kurt VonnegutRead