"By scientific thought we mean the application of past experience to new circumstances by means of an observed order of events. By saying that this order of events is exact we mean that it is exact enough to correct experiments by, but we do not mean that it is theoretically or absolutely exact, because we do not know. The process of inference [is] in itself an assumption of uniformity, and... as the known exactness of the uniformity became greater, the stringency of the inference [is] increased. By saying that the order of events is reasonable we do not mean that everything has a purpose, or that everything can be explained, or that everything has a cause; for neither of these is true. But we mean that to every reasonable question there is an intelligible answer, which either we or posterity may know by the exercise of scientific thought."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Atheists from EnglandUniversity of Cambridge alumniPhilosophers from EnglandUniversity of Cambridge facultyMathematicians from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
155-156.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Kingdon_Clifford
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
William Kingdon Clifford
William Kingdon Clifford (May 4, 1845 – March 3, 1879) was an English mathematician and philosopher.
52 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by William Kingdon Clifford →
Related Quotes
"' may be roughly described as quantity motion. A body moving at a speed of say twenty an hour, has a certain quantity…"
"It is a very serious thing to consider that not only the earth itself and all that beautiful face of Nature we see, b…"
"If God holds all mankind guilty for the sin of Adam, if he has visited upon the innocent the punishment of the guilty…"
"We ought not to teach to little children, as a known fact, that which is not a known fact."
"There is in the true man of science a desire stronger than the wish to have his beliefs upheld; namely, the desire to…"
"The name philosopher, which meant originally 'lover of wisdom,' has come in some strange way to mean a man who thinks…"
"Riemann has shewn that as there are different kinds of lines and surfaces, so there are different kinds of space of t…"
"I hold in fact (1) That small portions of space are in fact of a nature analogous to little hills on a surface which …"
"I am endeavouring in a general way to explain the laws of double refraction on this hypothesis, but have not yet arri…"
"Causation is defined by some modern philosophers as unconditional uniformity of succession, e.g., existence of fire f…"