“In like manner, if I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself credulous. The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for then it must sink back into savagery.”
Quote by William Kingdon Clifford
Work
Ethics of Belief and Other Essays
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Author
William Kingdon Clifford
William Kingdon Clifford was a British mathematician and philosopher, born on May 4, 1845, and died on March 3, 1879. He made significant contributions to the fields of geometry and algebra in mathematics. more
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