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Theory Quotes

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Theory Quotes

“There are two ways of forming an opinion. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all-important, and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything, and facts are junked when they do not fit theory.”

Way Mind Two Important Facts Opinion Theory Fit Authority Method Proof Description Academic Convenience Two Ways Scientific Method Scholastics

Author:Robert A. Heinlein

“Happy family: The existence and maintenance of [this] is thought to make a politician fit for public office. According to this theory, the public are less concerned by whether or not they are effectively represented than by the need to be assured that the penises and vaginas of public officials are only used in legally sanctioned circumstances.”

Needs Used Existence Theory Politician Fit Circumstances Office Concerned Officials Assured Maintenance Public Office Happy Family Public Officials

Book:The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense

Source: The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense

“No part of the aim of normal science is to call forth new sorts of phenomena; indeed those that will not fit the box are often not seen at all. Nor do scientists normally aim to invent new theories, and they are often intolerant of those invented by others.”

Theory Fit Normal Scientist Aim Boxes

Book:The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition

Source: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition

“Under my definition, a scientific theory is a proposed explanation which focuses or points to physical, observable data and logical inferences. There are many things throughout the history of science which we now think to be incorrect which nonetheless would fit that which would fit that definition. Yes, astrology is in fact one.”

Thinking Facts Theory Fit Definitions Data Explanation Logical Astrology Inference History Of Science Scientific Theory

Author:Michael Behe

“The constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those ... who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public philanthropy. ... I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.”

“The theory that religion is a force for peace, often heard among the religious right and its allies today, does not fit the facts of history.”

Doe Facts Today Force Religious Heard Theory Fit Allies

Book:The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

Source: The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

“I have not had a moment's peace or happiness in respect to electromagnetic theory since November 28, 1846. All this time I have been liable to fits of ether dipsomania, kept away at intervals only by rigorous abstention from thought on the subject.”

Has Beens Moments Subjects Theory Fit November Intervals Liable Abstention

Author:Lord Kelvin

“Darwin's theory is as dead as he is. Everyone is surviving, fit or not. Years ago, any kid dumb enough to chase a shiny object down a well was dead, and out of the gene pool. Now they got the technology and medicine to save the fool so he can breed more open mouth breathers.”

Years Wells Enough Kids Technology Objects Theory Fool Fit Mouths Years Ago Medicine Dumb Pool Genes Surviving

Author:Lenny Bruce

“This is often the way it is in physics - our mistake is not that we take our theories too seriously, but that we do not take them seriously enough. It is always hard to realize that these numbers and equations we play with at our desks have something to do with the real world. Even worse, there often seems to be a general agreement that certain phenomena are just not fit subjects for respectable theoretical and experimental effort.”

World Way Real Hard Enough Play Seems Certain Realizing Numbers Effort Mistake Subjects Theory Fit Physics Agreement Real World Desks Equations Theoretical Respectable

Author:Steven Weinberg

“Tailoring the facts to fit one's theory constitutes neither good science nor good journalism. Rather, it is intellectually dishonest and, when published for consumption by a mass audience, adds up to propaganda.”

Facts Audience Theory Fit Mass Add Journalism Propaganda Consumption Good Science Good Journalism

Book:Since predator came: notes from the struggle for American Indian liberation

Source: Since predator came: notes from the struggle for American Indian liberation

“Often they [writers on the study of management] have a point of view based upon intuition and experience. They then offer a cadence of two-paragraph examples carefully selected to "prove" their theory, and then they write "one size fits all" books. The message is, "If you'd do what these companies did, you'd be successful too."”

“Physicists have come up with other explanations. One is to say that these six constants are not free to vary. Some unified theory will eventually show that they are as locked in as the circumference and the diameter of a circle. That reduces the odds of them all independently just happening to fit the bill.”

Shows Theory Fit Six Happenings Bills Come Up Circles Explanation Locked Odds Physicist Vary Unified

Author:Richard Dawkins