“Minds fettered by this doctrine no longer inquire concerning a proposition whether it is attested by sufficient evidence, but whether it accords with Scripture; they do not search for facts as such, but for facts that will bear out their doctrine. It is easy to see that this mental habit blunts not only the perception of truth, but the sense of truthfulness, and that the man whose faith drives him into fallacies treads close upon the precipice of falsehood.” MenMindFactsEasyAtheismHe ManBearsHabitPerceptionEvidenceScriptureDoctrineSufficientFalsehoodPropositionsAccordTruthfulnessFallacyPrecipice Book:The Essays of George Eliot: Top Novelist Focus Source: The Essays of George Eliot: Top Novelist Focus
“It is wiser, I believe, to arrive at theory by way of evidence rather than the other way around.... It is more rewarding, in any case, to assemble the facts first and, in the process of arranging them in narrative form, to discover a theory or a historical generalization emerging of its own accord.” WayFirstsBelieveFactsFormI BelieveProcessCasesAtheismTheoryEvidenceHistoricalPositive AtheismNarrativeWiserAccordEmergingGeneralizationArranging Book:Practicing History: Selected Essays Source: Practicing History: Selected Essays