“Anthropology has reached that point of development where the careful investigation of facts shakes our firm belief in the far-reaching theories that have been built up. The complexity of each phenomenon dawns on our minds, and makes us desirous of proceeding more cautiously. Heretofore we have seen the features common to all human thought” MindHumansHas BeensFactsBeliefCommonTheoryDevelopmentBuiltCarefulFirmDawnFeaturesComplexityShakesReachingPhenomenonInvestigationAnthropologyProceedingHuman ThoughtFirm Beliefs Book:A Franz Boas Reader: The Shaping of American Anthropology, 1883-1911 Source: A Franz Boas Reader: The Shaping of American Anthropology, 1883-1911
“The unphilosophical and philosophical attitudes can be very sharply distinguished (with scarcely any intermediate forms) by the fact that the first accepts everything that happens as regards its general form, and finds occasion for surprise only in that special content by which something that happens here today differs from what happened there yesterday; whereas for the second, it is precisely the common features of all experience, such as characterise everything we encounter, which are the primary and most profound occasion for astonishment.” FirstsFactsHappensTodayFormCommonAttitudeAcceptingHappenedSpecialPhilosophicalRegardSurpriseProfoundYesterdayOccasionsPrimariesFeaturesEncountersDistinguishedAstonishment Author:Erwin Schrodinger
“Some of the beliefs and legends bequethed to us by Antquity are so universally and firmly established that we have become accustomed to consider them as being almost as ancient as humanity itself. Nevertheless we are tempted to inquire how far the fact that some of these beliefs and legends have so many features in common is due to chance, and wether the similarity between them may not point to the exestience of an ancient, totally unknown and unsuspected civilization of which all other traces have disappeared.” MayFactsAmericaHumanityBeliefChanceCommonMissingTerribleCivilizationAncientDuesFormerFeaturesLegendsNeverthelessSiteAccustomedTemptedSimilarityStanleyMiss America Author:Frederick Soddy
“We seek an understanding of the laws of nature and of our particular universe in which everything makes sense to us. We do not want to be reduced to accepting the strange features of our universe as brute facts.” WantFactsLawUniverseUnderstandingAcceptingParticularStrangeMake SenseFeaturesLaws Of NatureBrutes Author:Sean M. Carroll