Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.
Jacob BronowskiRead
Science is the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not. That needs more courage than we might think.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Science requires courage to embrace effective ideas and discard those that fail.
In this quote, Jacob Bronowski emphasizes the fundamental aspect of science as not merely a collection of facts but a rigorous process of determining what works based on evidence. He highlights that the courage to challenge established beliefs and acknowledge failures is essential for the advancement of knowledge, suggesting that this bravery is often underestimated.
Themes
ScienceCourageAcceptanceRejectionKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on scientific methodology, you might say, 'As Jacob Bronowski pointed out, science is about the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not.'
More from Jacob Bronowski
All quotes βThere 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
During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas - which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it. This method became organized, of course, into science.
Richard P. FeynmanRead
The unity of all science consists alone in its method, not in its material.
Karl PearsonRead
Artificial selection turned the wolf into the shepherd, and the wild grasses into wheat and corn. In fact, almost every plant and animal that we eat today was bred from a wild, less edible ancestor. If artificial selection can work such profound changes in only ten or fifteen thousand years, what can natural selection do operating over billions of years? The answer is all the beauty and diversity of life.
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As, pricked out with less and greater lights, between the poles of the universe, the Milky Way so gleameth white as to set very sages questioning.
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The conscious mind is not at the center of the action in the brain; instead, it is far out on a distant edge, hearing but whispers of the activity.
David EaglemanRead
A lot of the time, when I find myself critiquing scientific accuracy in movies, I have to remind myself that it had to get close enough to getting it right to get things wrong.
Randall MunroeRead