The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.
Claude Levi-StraussRead
The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of inquiry and curiosity in scientific exploration rather than simply arriving at correct conclusions.
Claude Levi-Strauss highlights that the essence of being a scientist lies in the ability to ask pertinent and thought-provoking questions rather than merely providing accurate answers. This approach fosters deeper understanding and innovative thinking, suggesting that progress in science is driven more by the quest for knowledge than the possession of definitive solutions.
In practice
In a lecture on scientific methodology, one might use this quote to emphasize the significance of questioning.
The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.
Objects are what matter. Only they carry the evidence that throughout the centuries something really happened among human beings.
Civilization has ceased to be that delicate flower which was preserved and painstakingly cultivated in one or two sheltered areas of a soil rich in wild species ... Mankind has opted for monoculture; it is in the process of creating a mass civilization, as beetroot is grown in the mass. Henceforth, man's daily bill of fare will consist only of this one item.
The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him.
Nor must we forget that in science there are no final truths.
Our system is the height of absurdity, since we treat the culprit both as a child, so as to have the right to punish him, and as an adult, in order to deny him consolation.
So the thing I realized rather gradually - I must say starting about 20 years ago now that we know about computers and things - there's a possibility of a more general basis for rules to describe nature.
Evolution is a fact. It is the best explanation of what is known from observations. It's a theory as powerful as the theory of gravity.
People think if you have deciphered the genome of humans that you can change everything. But you cannot change everything, because you do not know what the genes mean, and you have no methods for changing them, and you can't do experiments with humans like you can with animals.
History employs evolution to structure biological events in time.
Scientific theories tell us what is possible; myths tell us what is desirable. Both are needed to guide proper action.
Physics is the only profession in which prophecy is not only accurate but routine.
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