Tout est poison, rien n'est poison, tout est une question de dose. Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose.
Claude BernardRead
Theories are like a stairway; by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Theories in science evolve and improve as more facts are discovered, akin to climbing a stairway that expands one's perspective.
Claude Bernard's quote suggests that scientific theories are not static but rather dynamic constructs that develop over time. As scientists gather more empirical evidence, these theories become more comprehensive and accurate, much like ascending a stairway that allows for a broader view of the surrounding landscape. This process highlights the importance of continuous exploration and understanding in the scientific endeavor.
Themes
ScienceTheoriesFactsKnowledgeUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about scientific research, one might say, 'As Claude Bernard pointed out, theories are like a stairway; they expand our understanding.'
More from Claude Bernard
All quotes →When a physician is called to a patient, he should decide on the diagnosis, then the prognosis, and then the treatment. ... Physicians must know the evolution of the disease, its duration and gravity in order to predict its course and outcome. Here statistics intervene to guide physicians, by teaching them the proportion of mortal cases, and if observation has also shown that the successful and unsuccessful cases can be recognized by certain signs, then the prognosis is more certain.
Claude BernardRead
The goal of scientific physicians in their own science ... is to reduce the indeterminate. Statistics therefore apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still indeterminate.
Claude BernardRead
True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
Claude BernardRead
Now, a living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine endowed with the most marvellous properties and set going by means of the most complex and delicate mechanism.
Claude BernardRead
The experimenter who does not know what he is looking for will not understand what he finds.
Claude BernardRead
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