“It is a mistake to think of these men as visionary dreamers, playing around at Philadelphia with abstract conceptions of political theory, pulling a whole scheme of government out of the air like a rabbit out of a hat. True, many of them had read and studied enough about the science of politics to put the average statesman of today to shame. But political science was to them an extremely practical topic of discussion, dealing with the extremely practical business of running a government--not, as today, a branch of higher learning reserved for the use of graduate students.” ThinkingMenEnoughWholeUseGovernmentRunningTodayPoliticalMistakeAirStudentsTheoryHigherShameAveragePracticalsDiscussionAbstractBranchesHatsConceptionDreamerGraduatesSchemesPullingTopicsRabbitsPolitical ScienceVisionariesStatesmenReservedPhiladelphiaTrue ManGraduate StudentsPlaying AroundPolitical TheoryHigher Learning Book:55 Men, Story of Constitution Source: 55 Men, Story of Constitution
“Our acceptance of an ontology is, I think, similar in principle to our acceptance of a scientific theory, say a system of physics;we adopt, at least insofar as we are reasonable, the simplest conceptual scheme into which the disordered fragments of raw experience can be fitted and arranged.” ThinkingPrinciplesAcceptanceTheoryPhysicsReasonableSchemesSimplestFragmentsOntologyScientific Theory Book:Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W.V. Quine Source: Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W.V. Quine
“I was never a prisoner of any theory. What guided me were reason and reality. The acid test I applied to every theory or scheme was: Would it work? The acid test is in performance, not promises. It is not from weakness that one commands respect. As long as the leaders take care of their people, they will obey the leaders.” PeopleLongReasonRealityCareLeaderTheoryPromiseWeaknessTestsPerformancesTake CareCommandPrisonerSchemesAcid Author:Mr. Lee
“Ultimately, when you come up with a classification scheme that is collectively exhaustive and mutually exclusive, then the theory can become what Kuhn called a paradigm.” TheoryCome UpSchemesExclusiveParadigmClassification Author:Clayton Christensen
“I was lucky enough to build on the work of a number of people who had already run laps around this theory-building track. The original classification scheme, years ago, distinguished radical from incremental change. The theory said that established firms managed incremental change well, but would be expected to founder when their industry encountered a radical change.” PeopleYearsWellsSaidEnoughWould BeRunningNumbersBuildingTheoryIndustryLuckyYears AgoOriginalsTrackExpectedRadicalFirmSchemesFoundersLapDistinguishedClassificationRadical ChangeIncremental Change Author:Clayton Christensen
“There is a theory, that I rather subscribe to. The frame story implies that if he doesn't change, she will kill him. It's all very complex and subtle. The story is about a woman who persuades a man in power to a different temper and attitude, and so it is about women's wiles, what women will get up to. She has a plan, she has a scheme.” IfsMenDifferentStoriesAttitudePlansTheoryComplexesGet UpSubtleTemperSchemes Author:Marina Warner
“[How to think about a problem:] The first step is to make the problem specific . . . ; The second step is to form theories freely of how to rid yourself of that burden . . . ; The third step is to develop in foresight the consequences of your proposals . . . ; The fourth and final step in thinking is to compare the consequences of your proposals to see which is best in the light of your scheme of life as a whole . . . ; Whether you choose a vacation or a spouse, a party or a candidate, a cause to contribute to or a creed to live by - think!” ThinkingFirstsWholeProblemLightFormCausesPartyStepsTheoryConsequenceThirdsFinalsBurdenCompareCandidatesLive ByVacationYou ChooseFourthFirst StepsCreedsSchemesSpouseProposalForesight Author:Brand Blanshard
“There are all sorts of institutions in the economic world which depart from the simple price/market model which I worked on in an earlier incarnation and which has been sort of the mainstream of economic theories since Adam Smith and David Ricardo. There are all sorts of contractual relations between firms and individuals which do not conform to the simple price theory - profit-sharing schemes and so forth - and the explanation for these suddenly became clear. We now understand why these emerged and that they are based on differences in information in the economy.” WorldHas BeensIndividualDifferencesSimpleEconomyClearEconomicInformationTheoryModelsRelationInstitutionsProfitFirmExplanationAdamMainstreamSchemesConformIncarnationEconomic TheoryProfit Sharing Author:Kenneth Arrow