Home / Quotes / Quote by Bertrand Russell

Quote by Bertrand Russell

“Scientific method, although in its more refined forms it may seem complicated, is in essence remarkably simply. It consists in observing such facts as will enable the observer to discover general laws governing facts of the kind in question. The two stages, first of observation, and second of inference to a law, are both essential, and each is susceptible of almost indefinite refinement. (1931)”

Quote by Bertrand Russell

Book:The Scientific Outlook

Work

The Scientific Outlook

This book delves into the philosophical and societal implications of scientific advancements, examining how scientific discoveries shape our understanding of the world and influence human progress. more

Author

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, mathematician, and logician born on May 18, 1872, and died on February 2, 1970. He is known for his contributions to logic and mathematics, particularly in the fields of mathematical logic and philosophical analysis. His works spanned a wide range of subjects, including ethics, political philosophy, history, and literary criticism. more

You May Also Like

“Since science's competence extends to observable and measurable phenomena, not to the inner being of things, and to the means, not to the ends of human life, it would be nonsense to expect that the progress of science will provide men with a new type of metaphysics, ethics, or religion.”

Men Humans Mean Ends Would Be Science Religion Progress Type Ethics Accounts Observation Human Life Nonsense Metaphysics Competence

Author:Jacques Maritain

“The essential fact is that all the pictures which science now draws of nature, and which alone seem capable of according with observational facts, are mathematical pictures.”

Facts Seems Science Nature Natural Essentials Capable Draws Accounts Mathematics Observation Mathematical

Author:James Jeans

“The first man who said "fire burns" was employing scientific method, at any rate if he had allowed himself to be burnt several times. This man had already passed through the two stages of observation and generalization. He had not, however, what scientific technique demands - a careful choice of significant facts on the one hand, and, on the other hand, various means of arriving at laws otherwise than my mere generalization.”

“The foundations of population genetics were laid chiefly by mathematical deduction from basic premises contained in the works of Mendel and Morgan and their followers. Haldane, Wright, and Fisher are the pioneers of population genetics whose main research equipment was paper and ink rather than microscopes, experimental fields, Drosophila bottles, or mouse cages. Theirs is theoretical biology at its best, and it has provided a guiding light for rigorous quantitative experimentation and observation.”

“The history of men of science has one peculiar advantage, as it shows the importance of little things in producing great results. Smeaton learned his principle of constructing a lighthouse, by noticing the trunk of a tree to be diminished from a curve to a cyclinder ... and Newton, turning an old box into a water-clock, or the yard of a house into a sundial, are examples of those habits of patient observation which scientific biography attractively recommends.”

“Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable.”

Philosophical Acceptable Persuasion Unbelievable Oratory

Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero

“The hypotheses which we accept ought to explain phenomena which we have observed. But they ought to do more than this; our hypotheses ought to foretell phenomena which have not yet been observed; ... because if the rule prevails, it includes all cases; and will determine them all, if we can only calculate its real consequences. Hence it will predict the results of new combinations, as well as explain the appearances which have occurred in old ones. And that it does this with certainty and correctness, is one mode in which the hypothesis is to be verified as right and useful.”

Ifs Wells Doe Real Science Results Accepting Cases Acceptance Ought Evidence Consequence Determine Appearance Observation Certainty Combination Hypothesis Correctness

Author:William Whewell

“The magnet's name the observing Grecians drew. From the magnetic region where it grew.”

Science Names Growth Grew Observation Regions Observing Magnet Magnetic

Book:On The Magnet

Source: On The Magnet

“The observer listens to nature: the experimenter questions and forces her to reveal herself.”

Science Force Experiments Observation Observers

Author:Georges Cuvier

“The physicist is like someone who's watching people playing chess and, after watching a few games, he may have worked out what the moves in the game are. But understanding the rules is just a trivial preliminary on the long route from being a novice to being a grand master. So even if we understand all the laws of physics, then exploring their consequences in the everyday world where complex structures can exist is a far more daunting task, and that's an inexhaustible one I'm sure.”