“Theories of genius are the peculiar constructions of our own philosophical times; ages of genius had passed away, and they left no other record than their works; no preconcerted theory described the workings of the imagination to be without imagination, nor did they venture to teach how to invent invention.” AgeLeftImaginationTeachRecordsTheoryGeniusPhilosophicalInventionPeculiarConstructionVenturePassed Away Author:Isaac D'Israeli
“Each worldview was a cultural product, but evolution is true and separate creation is not. [...] Worldviews are social constructions, and they channel the search for facts. But facts are found and knowledge progresses, however fitfully. Fact and theory are intertwined, and all great scientists understand the interaction.” FactsFoundSocialProgressCreationProductsTheoryEvolutionScientistConstructionInteractionWorldviewIntertwinedGreat ScientistSocial Construction Book:Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history Source: Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history
“Questions, inside the larger mystery of sorrow, which contains us and our daily transit, and is large enough indeed to contain the whole shifting tidal theater where I make small constructions, my metaphors, my defenses. Against which I play out theories, doubts, certainties bright as high tide in sunlight, which shift just as that brightness does, in fog or rain.” DoeEnoughPlayWholeDoubtMysteryTheorySorrowRainTheaterMetaphorDefenseCertaintyConstructionTidesSunlightFogShiftingBrightness Author:Mark Doty
“General Systems Theory is a name which has come into use to describe a level of theoretical model-building which lies somewhere between the highly generalized constructions of pure mathematics and the specific theories of the specialized disciplines. Mathematics attempts to organize highly general relationships into a coherent system, a system however which does not have any necessary connections with the "real" world around us. It studies all thinkable relationships abstracted from any concrete situation or body of empirical knowledge.” WorldDoeRealUseBodyLyingNamesLevelsSituationStudyBuildingTheoryDisciplinePureModelsConnectionsMathematicsReal WorldConstructionConcreteOrganizeTheoreticalThinkableSystems Theory Author:Kenneth E. Boulding
“Macroscopic objects, as we see them all around us, are governed by a variety of forces, derived from a variety of approximations to a variety of physical theories. In contrast, the only elements in the construction of black holes are our basic concepts of space and time. They are, thus, almost by definition, the most perfect macroscopic objects there are in the universe.” UniverseForceBlackSpacePerfectObjectsTheoryElementsConceptsDefinitionsHolesVarietyConstructionContrastTime And SpaceBlack HoleApproximation Author:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
“Critics of Consequentialism have often assumed that hedonism (or preference-satisfaction) must be the theory of the good, that the deontic principle must be maximizing, and that the principle should be applied to individual acts. Indeed, this version is often called "classical utilitarianism" and attributed to Bentham and sometimes even to Mill. Rather than a "classical" view it is a recent construction foisted on to the tradition.” ShouldSometimesIndividualViewsPrinciplesTheoryTraditionCriticsSatisfactionVersionsConstructionPreferenceMillsHedonismUtilitarianismMaximizingConsequentialism Author:Dale Jamieson