Philosophy Of Science Quotes

Philosophy is true mother of the arts [of science].

Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind.

The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose

In the history and literature courses I took, epistemological questions came to interest me most. What makes one explanation of the French Revolution better than another? What makes one interpretation of “Waiting for Godot” better than another? These questions led me to philosophy and then to philosophy of science.

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

Paradox is thus a much deeper and universal concept than the ancients would have dreamed. Rather than an oddity, it is a mainstay of the philosophy of science.

The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.

I’m a geophysicist who has conducted and published climate studies in top-rank scientific journals. My perspective on Mr. Inhofe and the issue of global warming is informed not only by my knowledge of climate science but also by my studies of the history and philosophy of science.

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow.

Philosophy is this amazing technique we’ve devised for getting reality to answer us back when we’re getting it wrong. Science itself can’t make those arguments. You actually have to rely on philosophy, on philosophy of science.

If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind.

There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.