"It is in proportion to our success or failure in conceiving facts simply that sciences are abstract or concrete, rational or descriptive. In these respects the contrast is great between the physical and the biological sciences. The figure of the earth, its path about the sun, and its relations to the other planets are readily conceivable in a first approximation as simple; but the forms of life seem complex, their activities manifold, and the concatenations interminable. Therefore, unlike celestial mechanics, the science of biology, which is the record of efforts accurately to describe and clearly to understand living things, is chiefly a science descriptive of concrete fact. It bears little resemblance to the more perfect science and as yet is in no danger of a relativist revolution. It has never attained, perhaps, as some have argued, it can never in any respect achieve and should not strive for the abstractness, the elegance, and the simplicity which are the mark of the classical epoch of many the physical sciences and the ideal of those who follow Newton and Willard Gibbs."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesBiochemistsHarvard University alumniChemists from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Joseph_Henderson
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Lawrence Joseph Henderson
Lawrence Joseph Henderson (June 3, 1878 – February 10, 1942) was an American , biochemist, biologist, philosopher, and sociologist. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, he is known for the . In 1919 he was elected a member of the .
3 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Lawrence Joseph Henderson →
Related Quotes
"... More explicitly than ever before the modern principles of physical science seem to compel us to recognized absolu…"
"Four centuries ago, Machiavelli was thinking of certain great problems of human society and writing two famous books.…"
"For him delicious flavors dwell In books as in old Muscatel."
"And in the evening, everywhere Along the roadside, up and down, I see the golden torches flare Like lighted street-la…"
"Song like a rose should be; Each rhyme a petal sweet; For fragrance, melody, That when her lips repeat The words, her…"
"The hunter catches a dreadful prey, the seaman steers his ship into an unspeakable harbor, the plowman sows and reaps…"
"You are the king no doubt, but in one respect, at least, I am your equal: the right to reply. I claim that privilege …"
"When Hector heard that challenge he rejoiced and right in the no man's land along his lines he strode, gripping his s…"
"In the ancient land of vintage and dance and sun-burnt mirth, there resounded during the Middle Ages a sweet chorus o…"
"The poetry of the troubadours was essentially social in character. Unlike Goethe's minstrel, who sang as the bird amo…"