We do not choose survival as a value, it chooses us.
B. F. SkinnerRead
A scientist may not be sure of the answer, but he's often sure he can find one. And that's a condition which is clearly not enjoyed by philosophy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Scientists are generally confident in their ability to find answers, unlike philosophers who may struggle with certainty.
In this quote, B. F. Skinner highlights the contrasting approaches of science and philosophy towards knowledge and certainty. While scientists may face uncertainty in their immediate conclusions, they trust in their methods and reasoning to eventually uncover answers. In contrast, philosophy often grapples with deeper, sometimes unanswerable questions, leading to a sense of ambiguity that scientists typically do not experience.
Themes
SciencePhilosophyCertaintyKnowledgeAnswers
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the differences between scientific inquiry and philosophical debate.
More from B. F. Skinner
All quotes βEach of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age.
B. F. SkinnerRead
No theory changes what it is a theory about; man remains what he has always been.
B. F. SkinnerRead
I am opposed to the military use of animals. I am also opposed to the military use of men.
B. F. SkinnerRead
The ideal of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone.
B. F. SkinnerRead
Unable to understand how or why the person we see behaves as he does, we attribute his behavior to a person we cannot see, whose behavior we cannot explain either but about whom we are not inclined to ask questions.
B. F. SkinnerRead
Similar quotes
I built my soul a lordly pleasure-house, Wherein at ease for aye to dwell.
Alfred Lord TennysonRead
The greatest penalty of evil-doing is to grow into the likeness of a bad man.
PlatoRead
In the developed world, hundreds of millions of us now face the bizarre problem of surfeit. Yet our brains, instincts, and socialized behavior are still geared to an environment of lack. The result? Overwhelm - on an unprecedented scale.
Martha BeckRead
So that it must be only by the imagination that Satan has access to the soul, to tempt and delude it, or suggest anything to it. And this seems to be the reason why persons that are under the disease of melancholy are commonly so visibly and remarkably subject to the suggestions and temptations of Satan... Innumerable are the ways by which the mind may be led on to all kind of evil thoughts, by the exciting of external ideas in the imagination.
Jonathan EdwardsRead
If the whole responsibility is thrown upon our own shoulders, we shall be at our highest and best; when we have nobody to grope towards, no devil to lay our blame upon, no Personal God to carry our burdens, when we are alone responsible, then we shall rise to our highest and best. I am responsible for my fate, I am the bringer of good unto myself, I am the bringer of evil.
Swami VivekanandaRead
You can cultivate taste, as you can the intellect. Full understanding whets the appetite and desire, and, later, sharpens the enjoyment of possession.
Baltasar GracianRead