“Scientific discovery is a private event, and the delight that accompanies it, or the despair of finding it illusory, does not travel. One scientist may get great satisfaction from another's work and admire it deeply; it may give him great intellectual pleasure; but it gives him no sense of participation in the discovery, it does not carry him away, and his appreciation of it does not depend on his being carried away. If it were otherwise the inspirational origin of scientific discovery would never have been in doubt.” IfsGivingMayDoeHas BeensPleasureDoubtEventsDependsDespairFindingsIntellectualDiscoveryScientistSatisfactionDelightAppreciationAdmireParticipationAccompanyIllusoryCarried AwayScientific Discovery Book:The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science Source: The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science
“Freudian psychoanalytical theory is a mythology that answers pretty well to Levi-Strauss's descriptions. It brings some kind of order into incoherence; it, too, hangs together, makes sense, leaves no loose ends, and is never (but never) at a loss for explanation. In a state of bewilderment it may therefore bring comfort and relief.... give its subject a new and deeper understanding of his own condition and of the nature of his relationship to his fellow men. A mythical structure will be built up around him which makes sense and is believable-in, regardless of whether or not it is true.” MenGivingWellsKindMayEndsStatesTogetherOrderUnderstandingNatureLossAnswersRelationshipConditionsSubjectsTheoryComfortBuiltFellowsStructureDeeperMythMythologyMake SenseExplanationReliefDescriptionFellow ManPsychoanalysisBelievableBewildermentDeeper UnderstandingIncoherenceLoose EndsBelievabilityLevi Strauss Author:Peter Medawar
“We cannot point to a single definitive solution of any one of the problems that confront us — political, economic, social or moral, that is, having to do with the conduct of life. We are still beginners, and for that reason may hope to improve. To deride the hope of progress is the ultimate fatuity, the last word in poverty of spirit and meanness of mind. There is no need to be dismayed by the fact that we cannot yet envisage a definitive solution of our problems, a resting-place beyond which we need not try to go.” NeedsTryingMindMayStillsReasonFactsProblemLastsPoliticalSpiritSocialMoralPovertyProgressEconomicSolutionsUltimateLast WordsMeannessBeginnersDismayed Author:Peter Medawar
“Simultaneous discovery is utterly commonplace, and it was only the rarity of scientists, not the inherent improbability of the phenomenon, that made it remarkable in the past. Scientists on the same road may be expected to arrive at the same destination, often not far apart.” MayMadePastScienceDiscoveryScientistExpectedMade ItRemarkableDestinationPhenomenonInherentCommonplaceRaritySimultaneousImprobability Book:The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science Source: The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science
“It is ... a sign of the times-though our brothers of physics and chemistry may smile to hear me say so-that biology is now a science in which theories can be devised: theories which lead to predictions and predictions which sometimes turn out to be correct. These facts confirm me in a belief I hold most passionately-that biology is the heir of all the sciences.” MaySometimesFactsScienceTimeTurnsBeliefBrotherTheoryAccountsHearingPhysicsBiologyChemistryPredictionsHeirs Author:Peter Medawar
“If a person is A) poorly, B) receives treatment intended to make him better, and C) gets better, then no power of reasoning known to medical science can convince him that it may not have been the treatment that restored his health.” IfsMayPersonsHas BeensKnownMedicalGet BetterReasoningConvinceTreatmentMedical Science Author:Peter Medawar
