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There are two ways in which a science develops; in response to problems which is itself creates, and in response to problems that are forced on it from the outside.

— Ian Hacking

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Science

More quotes by Ian Hacking

We favor hypotheses for their simplicity and explanatory power, much as the architect of the world might have done in choosing which possibility to create.

When land and its tillage are the basis of taxation, one need not care exactly how many people there are.

A single observation that is inconsistent with some generalization points to the falsehood of the generalization, and thereby 'points to itself'.

Many modern philosophers claim that probability is relation between an hypothesis and the evidence for it.

Statistics began as the systematic study of quantitative facts about the state.

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

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All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Henri Poincaré Science and Hypothesis (1901)

Attribution

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