Quotes from scientists

The philosopher should be a man willing to listen to every suggestion, but determined to judge for himself.... Truth should be his primary object. (Michael Faraday)

Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man have come through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false. (Bertrand Russell)

To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize. (Blaise Pascal)

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. (Albert Einstein)

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. (Blaise Pascal)

Once miracles are admitted, every scientific explanation is out of the question. (Johannes Kepler)

The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don 't agree. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

It is no coincidence that so many religious beliefs date back to times when no science could possibly have accounted satisfactorily for many of the natural phenomena inspiring scripture and myths. (James D. Watson)

The options available to a creative person are ever limited by the choices offered by a philosopher. (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

It is not true that we can pursue science completely by using only those concepts which are directly subject to experiment. (Richard Feynman)

I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. (Albert Einstein)

It is right that we should stand by and act on our principles; but not right to hold them in obstinate blindness, or retain them when proved to be erroneous. (Michael Faraday)

“Verbosity wastes a portion of the reader’s or listener’s life.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. (Bertrand Russell)

I have noticed that even those who assert that everything is predestined and that we can change nothing about it still look both ways before they cross the street. (Stephen Hawking)

Do we really have reason to believe that an objective reality exists? (Stephen Hawking)

Me all time favorite from Wolfgang Pauli....
"Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig; es ist nicht einmal falsch!"
or...
That is not only not right; it is not even wrong".

[Michael] Faraday was my greatest scientific discovery
Sir Humphry Davy

spirtual-philosophy said:

Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else. (Erwin Schrodinger)

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I think that this is an example of what I call the Philosopher's Error: mistaking a failure of imagination for a philosophical insight.

There's no doubt that there is a "hard problem" in understanding consciousness, but the fact that it is hard does not make it impossible. And one must account for the fact that consciousness can be deliberately made to cease (as under a general anaesthetic) which certainly seems to imply that it can be accounted for by something, and is not, therefore, fundamental. The fact that we don't yet understand what that something is doesn't change that.

Thanks for this thread.

I've quoted those that I disagree with.

spirtual-philosophy said:

In theology we must consider the predominance of authority; in philosophy the predominance of reason. (Johannes Kepler)

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Theology has no authority unless one chooses to treat it as authoritative. Theology is faith-based, which, to me, is an invalid method for determining what is true about the world. How can a method which equally supports belief in two mutually exclusive ideas be a path to truth, since at least one of those two beliefs is incorrect?

spirtual-philosophy said:

You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it. (Stephen Hawking)

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If "supreme power" includes the laws of physics in a blind, godless universe, then yes, you cannot understand the universe without understanding the order underlying it.

But when I see "Supreme Power" capitalized, some people will read that as a god. I disagree with that. Undertanding the universe requires no god concept unless there is a god or gods, and even then, if this god is undetectable even in principle, there is no need to be aware of it, since it would be indistinguishable from its own nonexistence.

spirtual-philosophy said:

Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else. (Erwin Schrodinger)

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Schrodinger doesn't know that for a fact. He is making a faith-based pronunciation which may in fact be correct, but if so, can only be believed by faith at this time.

spirtual-philosophy said:

People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive. (Blaise Pascal)

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How about based on evidence, Blaise? Proof is not necessary to believe since there are degrees of belief. One's degree of certitude should be commensurate with the quality and quantity of the evidence available, and amenable to revision pending new evidence that makes that belief more or less likely to be correct. The best evidence that an idea is correct is that it works - it can be used to anticipate and perhaps control outcomes

spirtual-philosophy said:

I think an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind. The whole subject [of God] is beyond the scope of man's intellect. (Charles Darwin)

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Not if there is no god, in which case, the subject of god is as easy to understand as the subject of Santa Claus

spirtual-philosophy said:

I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. (Albert Einstein)

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Really? Where did E=mc2 come from - a dream? Einstein's rational thought processes have been written out for those with the mathematical sophistication to understand it and follow his reasoning.