Physics is mathematical not because we know so much about the physical world, but because we know so little; it is only its mathematical properties that we can discover.

In rational inquiry, we idealize to selected domains in such a way (we hope) as to permit us to discover crucial features of the world. Data and observations, in the sciences, have an instrumental character....

The inability of Darwinian psychology to account for human reasoning is devastating to its pretensions to be a science. The prestige of science depends on the application of highly advanced practical and theoretical reason. A...

It must be admitted that scientists today take little interest in philosophy of science…. It is not an indication that philosophical issues are no longer relevant. Rather, it is a consequence of the increasingly specialized...

If the majority view, whether in government or in the scientific establishment, is wrong, toleration of dissent increases the odds that their errors will eventually be discovered. But even if the majority view is correct,...

The word ‘proof’ should strictly only be used when we are dealing with deductive inferences…. Popper claimed that scientists only need to use deductive inferences…. So if a scientist is only interested in demonstrating that...

The weeds of a seemingly learned and brilliant but actually trivial and empty philosophy of Nature which, after having been replaced some 50 years ago by the exact sciences, is now once more dug up...

We have written the equations of water flow. From experiment, we find a set of concepts and approximations to use to discuss the solution–vortex streets, turbulent wakes, boundary layers. When we have similar equations in...

pg.90 of Philosophy in the Flesh: We are basing our argument on the existence of at least three stable scientific findings–the embodied mind, the cognitive unconscious, and metaphorical thought. Just as the ideas of cells...

We are children of chaos, and the deep structure of change is decay. At root, there is only corruption, and the unstemmable tide of chaos. Gone is purpose; all that is left is direction. This...

anything that i dont know from everthing i know is just nothing but something not unusual . the most simple reality on the whole wide Universe .

It’s daft, locking us up,” said Nanny. “I’d have had us killed.””That’s because you’re basically good,” said Magrat. “The good are innocent and create justice. The bad are guilty, which is why they invent mercy.

On the way, I shared the backseat of Feyerabend’s little sports car with the inflatable raft he kept there in case an 8-point earthquake came while he was on the Bay Bridge.

absolute time” — of a time independent of change. This absolute time can be measured by comparison with no motion; it has therefore neither a practical nor a scientific value; and no one is justified...

In mysticism, knowledge cannot be separated from a certain way of life which becomes its living manifestation. To acquire mystical knowledge means to undergo a transformation; one could even say that the knowledge is the...

We make versions, and true versions make worlds.

Causality is a pointless superstition. These days it would take more than one book to persuade anyone of that.

Science is a system of statements based on direct experience, and controlled by experimental verification. Verification in science is not, however, of single statements but of the entire system or a sub-system of such statements.