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Quote by Gregory Bateson

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Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology

This book is a compilation of essays that delve into the relationships between various fields of study, including anthropology, psychiatry, evolution, and epistemology. The essays aim to provide insights into the interconnectedness of these disciplines and their relevance to understanding human thought and behavior. more

Author

Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson

Gregory Bateson was a prominent anthropologist whose research spanned across various fields such as culture, semiotics, systems theory, and cognitive science. His work has had a profound impact on interdisciplinary studies that followed. more

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“Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions. It differs, however, from most other branches of human activity in that not only are the pathways of scientific thought determined by the presuppositions of the scientists but their goals are the testing and revision of old presuppositions and the creation of new.”

“If you are receptive and humble, mathematics will lead you by the hand. Again and again, when I have been at a loss how to proceed, I have just had to wait until I have felt the mathematics led me by the hand. It has led me along an unexpected path, a path where new vistas open up, a path leading to new territory, where one can set up a base of operations, from which one can survey the surroundings and plan future progress.”

“I know of nothing more terrible than the poor creatures who have learned too much. Instead of the sound powerful judgement which would probably have grown up if they had learned nothing, their thoughts creep timidly and hypnotically after words, principles and formulae, constantly by the same paths. What they have acquired is a spider's web of thoughts too weak to furnish sure supports, but complicated enough to provide confusion.”