Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Ian Hacking

Quote by Ian Hacking

“Labels such as ‘‘the culture wars,’’ ‘‘the science wars,’’ or ‘‘the Freud wars’’ are now widely used to refer to some of the disagreements that plague contemporary intellectual life ... But I would like to register a gentle protest. Metaphors influence the mind in many unnoticed ways. The willingness to describe fierce disagreement in terms of the metaphors of war makes the very existence of real wars seem more natural, more inevitable, more a part of the human condition. It also betrays us into an insensibility toward the very idea of war, so that we are less prone to be aware of how totally disgusting real wars really are.”

Quote by Ian Hacking

Book:The Social Construction of What?
Create image

Work

The Social Construction of What?

This book delves into the theoretical framework and practical implications of social construction, examining how societal beliefs and practices shape our understanding of reality. more

Author

Ian Hacking
Ian Hacking

Ian Hacking, born on February 18, 1936, is a renowned philosopher known for his work in the fields of philosophy of science, epistemology, and philosophy of mind. His research delves into the nature of scientific knowledge, the history of scientific revolutions, and the limitations of human cognition. more

You May Also Like

“Three postcards await our perusal, yea, three visions of a world. One: I see a theme park where there are lots of rides, but there is nobody who can control them and nobody who knows how the rides end. Grief counseling, however, is included in the price of admission. Two: I see an accident. An explosion of some kind inhabited by happenstantial life forms. A milk spill gone bacterial, only with more flame. It has no meaning or purpose or master. It simply is. Three: I see a stage, a world where every scene is crafted. Where men act out their lives within a tapestry, where meaning and beauty exist, where right and wrong are more than imagined constructs. There is evil. There is darkness. There is the Winter of tragedy, every life ending, churned back into the soil. But the tragedy leads to Spring. The story does not end in frozen death. The fields are sown in grief. The harvest will be reaped in joy. I see a Master's painting. I listen to a Master's prose. When darkness falls on me, when I stand on my corner of the stage and hear my cue, when I know my final scene has come and I must exit, I will go into the ground like corn, waiting for the Son.”

WorldLifeFaithChristianityMetaphor
Book:Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World
Create image

“Our wings were clipped, our restrictions were made, our boundaries were tested but now we are free, aren’t we? We look above in the sky at the birds and hope to be free. But the birds make their nests in the trees high above, to protect themselves from predators. Free birds must keep looking over their shoulders the same way all of us have to”

FreedomSkyMetaphorArtisticFreeDomestic ViolenceBirdsDomestic AbuseRestrictions
Book:Clipped Wings: Hear some stories of survival
Create image