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Quote by Stephen Jay Gould

“The origin of Homo sapiens, as a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree, lies well below the boundary.”

Quote by Stephen Jay Gould

Author

Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould was a renowned paleontologist, evolutionary theorist, science writer, and academic. He is known for his work in ornithology, paleontology, evolutionary theory, and speciation. Gould's writings and papers have had a profound impact on the scientific community, and he was a long-time contributor to the journal 'Nature'. more

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“The dogmatist within is always worse than the enemy without.”

Book:Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history

Source: Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history

“So much of science proceeds by telling stories.”

Stories Telling Stories

Book:Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History

Source: Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History

“The causes of life's history [cannot] resolve the riddle of life's meaning.”

Causes Resolve Riddle

Author:Stephen Jay Gould

“But our ways of learning about the world are strongly influenced by the social preconceptions and biased modes of thinking that each scientist must apply to any problem. The stereotype of a fully rational and objective scientific method, with individual scientists as logical (and interchangeable) robots, is self-serving mythology.”

Thinking World Way Self Problem Individual Social Scientist Method Mythology Objectives Rational Logical Serving Stereotype Robots Biased Scientific Method Preconceptions Self Serving

Author:Stephen Jay Gould

“I am glad that the life of pandas is so dull by human standards, for our efforts at conservation have little moral value if we preserve creatures only as human ornaments; I shall be impressed when we show solicitude for warty toads and slithering worms.”

Source: An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas

“As we discern a fine line between crank and genius, so also (and unfortunately) we must acknowledge an equally graded trajectory from crank to demagogue. When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.”

People Political Lines Fine Genius Judgment Tools Seeds Acknowledge Manipulation Fine Lines Trajectory Crank

Author:Stephen Jay Gould

“I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme positions lies somewhere between them. More fruitful perspectives often require that we step off the line to a site outside the dichotomy.”

Lying Lines Steps Position Perspective Extremes Alternatives Rejects Pairs Schemes Site Dichotomy

Book:Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

Source: Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

“The legends of fieldwork locate all important sites deep in inaccessible jungles inhabited by fierce beasts and restless natives, and surrounded by miasmas of putrefaction and swarms of tsetse flies.”

Important Beast Legends Fierce Site Restless Jungle Inaccessible Swarms Fieldwork

Book:Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

Source: Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

“All interesting issues in natural history are questions of relative frequency, not single examples. Everything happens once amidst the richness of nature. But when an unanticipated phenomenon occurs again and again—finally turning into an expectation—then theories are overturned.”

Happens Natural Interesting Issues Example Theory Expectations Things Happen Phenomenon Relative Again And Again Frequency Richness Natural History

Book:Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

Source: Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

“God was there when it happened. We were not there.... Therefore, we are completely limited to what God has seen fit to tell us, and this information is in His written Word.”

Written Happened Information Fit Scary Written Word

Author:Stephen Jay Gould