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Theory Quotes

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Theory Quotes

“There is little mysticism without an element of transcendence, and conversely, there is no transcendence without a certain degree of egocentrism. It may be that the genesis of these experiences is to be sought in the unique situation of the very young child in relation to adults. The theory of the filial origin of the religious sense seems to us singularly convincing in this connection.”

Source: The Moral Judgement of the Child

“The degree of confirmation assigned to any given hypothesis is sensitive to properties of the entire belief system... simplicity, plausibility, and conservatism are properties that theories have in virtue of their relation to the whole structure of scientific beliefs taken collectively. A measure of conservatism or simplicity would be a metric over global properties of belief systems.”

Whole Would Be Belief Given Virtue Taken Theory Degrees Relation Structure Property Simplicity Sensitive Hypothesis Conservatism Belief Systems Confirmation Metrics

Author:Jerry Fodor

“Human rights are an aspect of natural law, a consequence of the way the universe works, as solid and as real as photons or the concept of pi. The idea of self- ownership is the equivalent of Pythagoras' theorem, of evolution by natural selection, of general relativity, and of quantum theory. Before humankind discovered any of these, it suffered, to varying degrees, in misery and ignorance.”

“Homicide is the major leagues, the center ring, the show. It always has been ... It goes beyond academic degrees, specialized training or book learning, because all the theory in the world means nothing if you can't read the street.”

Ifs World Mean Has Beens Book Shows Streets Theory Degrees Majors Training Rings League Academic Major League Homicide Book Learning

Author:David Simon

“The rationale for accepting or rejecting any theory is thus fundamentally based on the idea of problem-solving progress. If one research tradition has solved more important problems than its rivals, then accepting that tradition is rational precisely to the degree that we are aiming to "progress," i.e., to maximize the scope f solved problems. In other words, the choice of one tradition over its rivals is a progressive (and thus a rational) choice precisely to the extent that the chosen tradition is a better problem solver than its rivals.”

Source: Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific Growth

“A geometrical theory in physical interpretation can never be validated with mathematical certainty ... ; like any other theory of empirical science, it can acquire only a more or less high degree of confirmation.”

Theory Degrees Certainty Mathematical Acquire Interpretation Confirmation

Book:The Philosophy of Carl G. Hempel: Studies in Science, Explanation, and Rationality

Source: The Philosophy of Carl G. Hempel: Studies in Science, Explanation, and Rationality

“A priori one should expect a chaotic world which cannot be grasped by the mind in any way... The kind of order created by Newton's theory of gravitation...is wholly different. Even if the axioms of the theory are proposed by man, the success of such a project presupposes a high degree of ordering of the objective world.... That is the "miracle" which is being constantly reinforced as our knowledge expands.”

Ifs Men World Way Should Mind Kind Different Order Theory Degrees Projects Miracle Objectives Newton Chaotic Axioms Gravitation

Author:Albert Einstein

“I end up improvising in almost everything to some degree, 'cause it's often necessary on movies. The script is one thing, and it's this kind of theory of what you're going to do, and then you get there on the day and you realize, "Oh, the script is not appropriate to this room, the door's over here."”

Kind Ends Causes Realizing Rooms Doors One Thing Theory Degrees Scripts Appropriate Improvising

Author:John C. Reilly

“The expectations of theory colour perception to such a degree that new notions seldom arise from facts collected under the influence of old pictures of the world. New pictures cast their influence before facts can be seen in a different perspective.”

World Different Facts Influence Theory Perspective Degrees Perception Expectations Notion Casts Arise Colour Different Perspective Old Picture

Author:Niles Eldredge

“I'll probably take the prize for the most irrelevant degree. Although some of the things now where they study, you know: "post feministic colonial film theory" - those kind of majors, yeah, that's probably worse. But I was, you know, classics, Greek and Latin, like what's more irrelevant than dead languages, you know?”

Knows Kind Film Language Study Theory Degrees Majors Yeah Posts Greek Prize Latin Irrelevant

Author:Robert Greene

“Whenever you have dynamic interactions between 300 million people and the American economy acting in really complex ways, that introduces a degree of almost chaos theory to the system, in a literal sense.”

People Way Acting Millions Economy Theory Degrees Complexes Chaos Interaction Introducing Literal American Economy Chaos Theory

Author:Nate Silver