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A further turn is to be found in some "unmasking" accounts of natural science, which aim to show that its pretensions to deliver the truth are unfounded, because of social forces that control its activities. Unlike the case of history, these do not use truths of the same kind; they do not apply science to the criticism of science. They apply the social sciences, and typically depend on the remarkable assumption that the sociology of knowledge is in a better position to deliver truth about science than science is to deliver truth about the world.

— Bernard Williams Truth and Truthfulness (2002)

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Truth

More quotes by Bernard Williams

As Roland Barthes said, those who do not re-read condemn themselves to reading the same story everywhere: "they recognize what they already think and know."

Truth and Truthfulness (2002)

If the passion for truthfulness is merely controlled and stilled without being satisfied, it will kill the activities it is supposed to support. This may be one of the reasons why, at the present time, the study of the humanities runs a risk of sliding from professional seriousness, through professionalization, to a finally disenchanted careerism.

Truth and Truthfulness (2002)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Bernard Williams (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.