“I view the major features of my own odyssey as a set of mostly fortunate contingencies. I was not destined by inherited mentality or family tradition to become a paleontologist. I can locate no tradition for scientific or intellectual careers anywhere on either side of my eastern European Jewish background. I view my serious and lifelong commitment to baseball in entirely the same manner: purely as a contingent circumstance of numerous, albeit not entirely capricious, accidents.” I CanSidesMy OwnViewsCareersSeriousCircumstancesMajorsIntellectualCommitmentTraditionBaseballAccidentsBackgroundsFortunateFeaturesMentalityEasternDestinedLifelongCapriciousOdysseyContingencyFamily Tradition Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“Good scholars struggle to understand the world in an integral way (pedants bite off tiny bits and worry them to death). These visions of reality [...] demand our respect, for they are an intellectual's only birthright. They are often entirely wrong and always flawed in serious ways, but they must be understood honorably and not subjected to mayhem by the excision of patches.” WorldWayRealityBitsVisionWorryStruggleSeriousDemandIntellectualUnderstoodTinyBitesScholarFlawedPatchesBirthrightMayhemPedants Book:Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history Source: Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history
“Total experiences, of which there are many kinds, tend again and again to be apprehended only as revivals or translations of the religious imagination. To try to make a fresh way of talking at the most serious, ardent, and enthusiastic level, heading off the religious encapsulation, is one of the primary intellectual tasks of future thought.” WayTryingKindImaginationReligiousLevelsTalkingSeriousIntellectualTasksPrimariesAgain And AgainTranslationsEnthusiasticRevivalHeadingsArdentWay Of Talking Author:Susan Sontag
“That the sweetly intoxicating three-four rhythm which took hold of hand & foot, necessarily eclipsed great & serious music & made the audience unfit for any intellectual effort goes without saying.” MadeHandsThreeEffortAudienceFourFeetSeriousIntellectualRhythm Author:Eduard Hanslick
“Today the term "global" can no longer constitute a serious topic for an in-depth intellectual discussion because it simply means "Camerica".” MeanTodayTermSeriousIntellectualDepthDiscussionTopics Author:Genco Gulan
“Insofar as theology is an attempt to define and clarify intellectual positions, it is apt to lead to discussion, to differences of opinion, even to controversy, and hence to be divisive. And this has had a strong tendency to dampen serious discussion of theological issues in most groups, and hence to strengthen the general anti-intellectual bias.” StrongDifferencesChristianityOpinionIssuesGroupsPositionSeriousIntellectualTheologyTendenciesDiscussionBiasControversyTheologicalDifferences Of Opinion Author:Bill Vaughan
“What I intend to do is uphold a standard of intellectual seriousness on the right. [These books] should be written in a way that they are serious, soberly argued, well researched, and make a respectable case-agree or disagree.” WayShouldWellsBookCasesWrittenSeriousIntellectualStandardsAgreeDisagreeSeriousnessRespectable Author:Adam Bellow
“I think serious research tends to be associated with higher academic quality, more prestige, more resources, and even, heaven help us, better teaching, to a greater extent than you might think. Folks who don't have an active intellectual life become, though the long years of just teaching, less intellectually alive and exciting.” ThinkingYearsLongHelpingMightHeavenQualityGreaterAliveTeachingSeriousHigherIntellectualResearchResourcesExcitingFolksActiveAcademicPrestigeIntellectual Life Author:Nicholas Lemann
“There are many aspects about what and why we photograph: visual pleasure, personal empathy, intellectual stimulation, technical excellence, etc. Serious photographers and artists will try to create works that are original. Over a career period they may develop a singular identity in their images.” TryingMayArtistPleasureCareersIdentitySeriousPeriodsIntellectualEmpathyAspectOriginalsExcellencePhotographerPhotographVisualsEtcStimulation Author:Michael Kenna
“That is my job as an intellectual, as an extension of my vocation: to engage in a serious reckoning with the present manifestation of both white supremacy, white refusal to acknowledge culpability, and the attempts of black people to re-describe the harm and trauma we've endured, as well as to say afresh what it is that must be done if we are to be conscientious.” PeopleIfsWellsDoneJobsBlackWhiteSeriousIntellectualTraumaHarmAcknowledgeManifestationBlack PeopleExtensionsVocationWhite SupremacyRefusalSupremacyReckoningCulpability Author:Michael Eric Dyson