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Society Quotes

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Society Quotes

“The Darwinian theory is in principle capable of explaining life. No other theory that has ever been suggested is in principle capable of explaining life.”

Principles Society Theory Capable Explaining

Book:The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design

Source: The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design

“one of the tests of a theory is that, once grasped, it appears self-evident.”

Self Society Theory Tests Evident

Author:Arthur Koestler

“anyone who writes about "Darwin's theory of evolutionin the singular, without segregating the theories of gradual evolution, common descent, speciation, and the mechanism of natural selection, will be quite unable to discuss the subject competently.”

Writing Natural Common Society Subjects Theory Evolution Mechanism Selection Natural Selection Descent Speciation

Author:Ernst Mayr

“Evolution as such is no longer a theory for a modern author. It is as much a fact as that the earth revolves around the sun.”

Facts Earth Sun Society Atheism Modern Theory Evolution

Book:What Makes Biology Unique?: Considerations on the Autonomy of a Scientific Discipline

Source: What Makes Biology Unique?: Considerations on the Autonomy of a Scientific Discipline

“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

Philosophy Water Society Theory Activity Rain Rivers Anger Excellence Humble Tolerate Scorn Pipe Exalted Be Humble Plumber Plumbing Good Philosophy

Book:Excellence: Can We Be Equal And Excellent Too?

Source: Excellence: Can We Be Equal And Excellent Too?

“There is an almost universal tendency, perhaps an inborn tendency, to suspect the good faith of a man who holds opinions that differ from our own opinions. It obviously endangers the freedom and the objectivity of our discussion if we attack a person instead of attacking an opinion or, more precisely, a theory.”

Ifs Men Persons Opinion Society Theory Universal Tendencies Discussion Suspects Attacking Objectivity Good Faith

Author:Karl Popper

“Internationalism is a community theory of society which is founded on economic, spiritual, and biological facts. It maintains that respect for a healthy development of human society and of world civilization requires that mankind be organized internationally. Nationalities should form the constitutive links in a great world alliance, and must be guaranteed an independent life in the realm of the spiritual and for locally delimited tasks, while economic and political objectives must be guided internationally in a spirit of peaceful cooperation for the promotion of mankind's common interests.”

“Once a new social stage appears in a culture, it will spread its instructional codes and life-priority messages throughout that culture's surface-level expressions: religion, economic and political arrangements, psychological and anthro-pological theories, and views of human nature, our future destiny, globalization, and even architectural patterns and sports preferences. We all live in flow states; there is always new wine, always old wineskins. We, indeed, find ourselves pursuing a neverending quest.”

“The flowering of human society depends on two factors: the intellectual power of outstanding men to conceive sound social and economic theories, and the ability of these or other men to make these ideologies palatable to the majority.”

Men Humans Two Ideas Social Sound Ability Society Economic Theory Depends Intellectual Majority Factors Ideology Outstanding Human Society Flowering Economic Theory

Book:Human Action

Source: Human Action

“Psychoanalysis can provide a theory of 'progress,' but only by viewing history as a neurosis.”

Psychology Progress Society Theory Psychoanalysis Neurosis

Book:Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History

Source: Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History

“Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests.”

Philosophy Truth Justice Freedom Society Theory Liberalism Individuals Social Institutions

Book:A Theory of Justice

Source: A Theory of Justice

“G. Stanley Hall, a creature of his times, believed strongly that adolescence was determined – a fixed feature of human development that could be explained and accounted for in scientific fashion. To make his case, he relied on Haeckel's faulty recapitulation idea, Lombroso's faulty phrenology-inspired theories of crime, a plethora of anecdotes and one-sided interpretations of data. Given the issues, theories, standards and data-handling methods of his day, he did a superb job. But when you take away the shoddy theories, put the anecdotes in their place, and look for alternate explanations of the data, the bronze statue tumbles hard. I have no doubt that many of the street teens of Hall's time were suffering or insufferable, but it's a serious mistake to develop a timeless, universal theory of human nature around the peculiarities of the people of one's own time and place.”

Source: Teen 2.0: Saving Our Children and Families from the Torment of Adolescence

“It strikes me profoundly that the world is more often than not a bad and cruel place.”

Source: American Psycho