“The ultimate priority of humanity should not be to savour the power given to us, but rather to account for the according responsibility.” ShouldHumanityGivenResponsibilityUltimateAccountsPrioritiesSavour Author:Christian Harrison
“Our forebears are deserving of tribute for one indisputable reason, if for no other: without them we should not be here. Let us recognize that we are not the ultimate triumph but rather we are beads on a string. Let us behave with decency to the beads that were strung before us and hope modestly that the beads that come after us will not hold us of no account simply because we are dead.” IfsShouldReasonUltimateAccountsTriumphBehaveStringsDecencyTributeDeservingBeads Author:Robertson Davies
“Science ... has no consideration for ultimate purposes, any more than Nature has, but just as the latter occasionally achieves things of the greatest suitableness without intending to do so, so also true science, as the imitator of nature in ideas, will occasionally and in many ways further the usefulness and welfare of man,-but also without intending to do so.” MenWayIdeasSciencePurposeNatureNaturalAchieveUltimateAccountsWelfareConsiderationLatterUsefulnessImitator Book:Human, All-Too-Human: Parts One and Two Source: Human, All-Too-Human: Parts One and Two
“Science, in its ultimate ideal, consists of a set of propositions arranged in a hierarchy, the lowest level of the hierarchy being concerned with particular facts, and the highest with some general law, governing everything in the universe. The various levels in the hierarchy have a two-fold logical connection, travelling one up, one down; the upward connection proceeds by induction, the downward by deduction.” TwoFactsLawScienceUniverseLevelsParticularHighestConcernedIdealsConnectionsUltimateAccountsVariousLogicalLowestPropositionsHierarchyFoldsGoverningScientific MethodDeductions Book:The Scientific Outlook Source: The Scientific Outlook
“It is God who is the ultimate reason things, and the Knowledge of God is no less the beginning of science than his essence and will are the beginning of things.” ReasonGodScienceEssenceUltimateAccountsKnowledge Of God Author:Gottfried Leibniz
“Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. Nearly all men of science, all men of learning for that matter, and men of simple ways too, have it in some form and in some degree. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and that this is his mission. If we abandon that mission under stress we shall abandon it forever, for stress will not cease. Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that is the essence of our being. None can define its limits, or set its ultimate boundaries.” IfsMenWayMatterFormScienceFaithUnderstandingSimpleKnowledgeForeverLimitsDegreesEssenceUltimateAccountsStressSakePrivilegeMissionsBoundariesCeaseAbandonUtilitySimple WaysUnder StressSimple Faith Author:Vannevar Bush
“Sociology should... be thought of as a science of action-of the ultimate common value element in its relations to the other elements of action.” ShouldActionScienceValuesCommonElementsUltimateAccountsRelationSociology Book:Structure of Social Action Source: Structure of Social Action