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Theory Quotes

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Theory Quotes

“It is essential to grasp the incontestable truth that a Marxist must take cognisance of real life, of the true facts of reality, and not cling to a theory of yesterday, which, like all theories, at best only outlines the main and the general, only comes near to embracing life in all its complexity.”

Real Facts Reality Theory Essentials Yesterday Real Life Complexity Outlines Marxist True Fact

Book:Bolshevism and the Russian Revolution

Source: Bolshevism and the Russian Revolution

“Economy and ideology. The claim (presented as an essential postulate of historical materialism) that every fluctuation of politics and ideology can be presented and expounded as an immediate expression of the structure, must be contested in theory as primitive infantilism, and combated in practice with the authentic testimony of Marx, the author of concrete political and historical works.”

Political Practice Economy Expression Theory Essentials Claims Structure Historical Ideology Materialism Concrete Primitive Testimony Fluctuation

Author:Antonio Gramsci

“Theoretical approaches have their place and are, I suppose, essential but a theory must be tempered with reality.”

Reality Theory Essentials Approach Theoretical

Book:Speeches 1949-1953

Source: Speeches 1949-1953

“We must nevertheless present all possible interpretations for each observation, so that competing theories can be formulated and defended. In science, as elsewhere, intellectual inertia, the fashions of the moment, the weight of institutions, and authoritarianism are always to be feared. Heresies play an essential role by keeping our minds argumentative and alert.”

Mind Play Moments Roles Fashion Theory Essentials Intellectual Weight Institutions Observation Interpretation Elsewhere Nevertheless Competing Heresy Authoritarianism Inertia

Author:Hubert Reeves

“At any one time there is a natural tendency among physicists to believe that we already know the essential ingredients of a comprehensive theory . But each time a new frontier of observation is broached we inevitably discover new phenomena which force us to modify substantially our previous conceptions. I believe this process to be unending, that the delights and challenges of unexpected discovery will continue always.”

“If a single one of these gentlemen is correct, if a believer of any type is right, the essential truth for man, the real drama of life, in comparison with which the secular story of the race, is a puppet-show and the unfolding of the universe is a triviality, is the dialogue of the immortal soul and the eternal God. Yet it seems that there is nothing in the world so hard to discover as this. The theory refutes itself.”

“Chiropractic, which celebrated its centennial in 1995, is a curious mixture of science and pseudoscience, sense and nonsense. Much of it is based on the theory that misaligned spinal bones produce nerve interference that causes disease. Many chiropractors claim that correcting these misalignments ("subluxations") can restore health and that regular spinal adjustments are essential to maintain it.”

Source: Inside Chiropractic: A Patient's Guide

“The logic of all this seems to be that it is all right for young people in a democracy to learn about any civilization or social theory that is not dangerous, but that they should remain entirely ignorant of any civilization or social theory that might be dangerous on the ground that what you don't know can't hurt you ... a complete denial of the democratic principle that the general diffusion of knowledge and learning through the community is essential to the preservation of free government.”

Source: Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life

“This book is the best treatment of the best American Marxist philosopher-and the best philosopher to emerge from American slums. Young Sidney Hook is essential reading for anyone interested in democratic theory and practice in America.”

Book America Young Reading Practice Theory Essentials Democratic Philosopher Treatment Hook Marxist Slums Theory And Practice Best American

Author:Cornel West

“One thus sees that a new kind of theory is needed which drops these basic commitments and at most recovers some essential features of the older theories as abstract forms derived from a deeper reality in which what prevails in unbroken wholeness.”

Kind Reality Form Theory Needed Essentials Commitment Deeper Features Abstract Wholeness Unbroken

Book:Wholeness and the Implicate Order

Source: Wholeness and the Implicate Order

“Everybody thinks of economics whether he is aware of it or not. In joining a political party or in casting his ballot, the citizen implicitly takes a stand upon essential economic theories.”

Thinking Political Party Economic Theory Citizens Essentials Economics Political Parties Casting Joining Ballots Economic Theory

Author:Ludwig von Mises

“My theory is that, just like with omitting a final comma in a list when not essential for meaning, publishers are trying to save paper and ink or pixels on-screen.”

Trying Theory Essentials Paper Finals Screens Lists Publishers Ink Pixels Omitting

Author:Bill Walsh