“I think a scientist's job is to explore the Universe, to explore the cosmos around us. People always want to know - why is that useful? Well, on just pure fundamental grounds, on some level it's like art, it's like umm, music, it's aesthetics, it's like philosophy. You want to know where you are in the Universe.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantWellsArtPhilosophyJobsUniverseLevelsPureScientistFundamentalsCosmosWhere You AreAesthetics Author:Brian Schmidt
“When scientists need to explain difficult points of theory, illustration by hypothetical example - rather than by total abstraction - works well (perhaps indispensably) as a rhetorical device. Such cases do not function as speculations in the pejorative sense - as silly stories that provide insight into complex mechanisms - but rather as idealized illustrations to exemplify a difficult point of theory. (Other fields, like philosophy and the law, use such conjectural cases as a standard device.” NeedsWellsPhilosophyStoriesUseLawDifficultCasesExampleFieldsTheoryStandardsScientistFunctionComplexesInsightSillyDevicesMechanismAbstractionSpeculationIllustrationRhetoricalHypothetical Book:Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms Source: Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms
“The emancipation of the scholars and scientists from philosophy is according to [Nietzsche] only a part of the democratic movement, i.e. of the emancipation of the low from subordination to the high. ... The plebeian character of the contemporary scholar or scientist is due to the fact that he has no reverence for himself.” PhilosophyCharacterFactsMovementLowsScientistDemocraticDuesContemporaryReverenceScholarEmancipationSubordinationPlebeians Book:Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy Source: Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy
“A philosophy which speaks, even indirectly, only to philosophers is no philosophy at all; and I think the same is true if it speaks only to scientists, or only to jurists, or priests, or any other special class.” IfsThinkingPhilosophySpeakClassSpecialScientistPhilosopherPriestsJurists Author:Abraham Kaplan
“Scientific wealth tends to accumulate according to the law of compound interest. Every addition to knowledge of the properties of matter supplies the physical scientist with new instrumental means for discovering and interpreting phenomena of nature, which in their turn afford foundations of fresh generalisations, bringing gains of permanent value into the great storehouse of natural philosophy.” MeanMatterPhilosophyLawValuesTurnsInterestNaturalWealthGainsScientistFoundationPropertyPermanentPhenomenonDiscoveringAccumulationSuppliesCompoundsInterpretingGeneralizationCompound InterestNatural PhilosophyGeneralisationProperties Of Matter Author:Lord Kelvin
“I fully agree with you about the significance and educational value of as well as history and philosophy of science. So many people today - and even professional - seem to me like someone who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is - in my opinion - the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.” PeopleGivingWellsKindRealPhilosophySeemsTodaySufferingValuesOpinionGenerationsTreeScientistPrejudiceMarkPhilosophicalAgreeIndependenceMereEducationalInsightBackgroundsForestsDistinctionSignificanceHistoricSeekersSpecialistsPhilosophy Of ScienceArtisans Author:Albert Einstein
“Before the scientific rationalism took hold of our minds and before we became succumbed to a materialistic worldview, the Western philosophy was holistic and relational, and even now there are many scientists in the West seeing things totally interconnected.” MindPhilosophySeeingScientistWestWesternWorldviewMaterialisticHolisticInterconnectedRationalismWestern Philosophy Author:Satish Kumar
“When I think about discussions at the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, a group which includes not only philosophers and psychologists, but also computer scientists and linguists, it is noteworthy that one can't always tell just from the content of particular contributions from the audience, whether a given questioner is a philosopher or an empirical scientist.” ThinkingPhilosophyGivenAudiencePsychologyGroupsParticularComputerScientistPhilosopherDiscussionContributionPsychologistLinguists Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I think, in fact, that the connections between philosophy and cognitive science haven't gone far enough, metaphysicians should be working closely with cognitive scientists when they try to understand the sources of our experience of parts of the world such as its causal and temporal parts.” ThinkingWorldShouldTryingEnoughPhilosophyFactsGoneHavensSourceConnectionsScientistCognitiveCognitive Science Author:L.A. Paul
“Until I was a junior in high school, I was a "boy scientist" type and expected to go into chemistry. Then I discovered the humanities. I read the plays of Shakespeare voraciously, some novels, such as Pasternack's Dr. Zhivago and Sinclair Lewis' Main Street, and I got into philosophy by reading Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.” PhilosophyPlaySchoolHumanityReadingBoysNovelStreetsTypeHigh SchoolScientistExpectedChemistryDrsJuniorsMain Street Author:Allen W. Wood