Frame quotes

From Motley Bytes Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Christopher_Wolfgang_Alexander

Biased Decisions and Perceptions

“The self-conscious individual's grasp of problems is constantly misled. His concepts and categories, besides being arbitrary and unsuitable, are self-perpetuating. Under the influence of concepts, he not only does things from a biased point of view, but sees them biasedly as well. The concepts control his perception of fit and misfit — until in the end he sees nothing but deviations from his conceptual dogmas, and loses not only the urge but even the mental opportunity to frame his problems more appropriately.”

Robert_Boyle

Good Hypothesis

“The Requisites of a good Hypothesis are:
: That It be Intelligible.
: That It neither Assume nor Suppose anything Impossible, unintelligible, or demonstrably False.
: That It be consistent with Itself.
: That It be lit and sufficient to Explicate the Phaenomena, especially the chief.
: That It be, at least, consistent, with the rest of the Phaenomena It particularly relates to, and do not contradict any other known Phaenomena of nature, or manifest Physical Truth.
 
The Qualities and Conditions of an Excellent Hypothesis are:
: That It be not Precarious, but have sufficient Grounds In the nature of the Thing Itself or at least be well recommended by some Auxiliary Proofs.
: That It be the Simplest of all the good ones we are able to frame, at least containing nothing that is superfluous or Impertinent.
: That It be the only Hypothesis that can Explicate the Phaenomena; or at least, that do's Explicate them so well.
: That it enable a skillful naturalist to foretell future Phaenomena by the Congruity or Incongruity to it; and especially the event of such experiments as are aptly devised to examine It, as Things that ought, or ought not, to be consequent to It.”
  • Source: Robert Boyle, Boyle Papers, 37. Quoted In Barbara Kaplan (ed.), Divulging of Useful Truths in Physick: The Medical Agenda of Robert Boyle (1993), 50.

Alexander_G_Fraser

Top Down Bottom Up

“In the designs I have been involved in, and which have not involved too many people, I have not been able to identify whether these have been ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’. They seem to me to be more like frame stressing,”

Alister_McGrath

Why is the Kettle Boiling?

“The distinguished geologist Frank Rhodes made this point back in 1965, using the analogy of a boiling kettle. So why is the kettle boiling? Rhodes notes that two types of explanation might be given. At the scientific level, energy is being supplied, which raises the temperature of the water to its boiling point. Yet another answer can be given. 'The kettle is boiling because I put it on to make a cup of tea.' Rhodes makes a point which some of you may find predictable, but is none the less important. Here is what he says: 'Now these are different answers. But both are true, both are complementary and not competitive. One answer is appropriate within a particular frame of reference, the other within another frame of reference. There is a sense in which each is incomplete without the other.”
  • Note: Frank Rhodes gave credit for the kettle analogy to Dr. Douglas Spanner.

Henry_Louis_Mencken

Religion

“Religion, after all, is nothing but a hypothesis framed to account for what is evidentially unaccounted for.”
  • Source: The American Mercury (February 1926)

Frank_H_T_Rhodes

Kettle Boiling

“It is not a question of choosing one and thereby rejecting the other; both are necessary in order to do justice to the totality... This is perhaps simply shown by Dr Douglas Spanner's example of the boiling kettle. Why, I may ask, is the kettle boiling? There are two kinds of answer that can be given. One is, it is boiling because energy is being supplied to it in the form of heat and the maximum vapour pressure of the water is now equal to the atmospheric pressure. The other kind of answer which may be given is that the kettle is boiling because I put it on to make a cup of tea. Now these are different answers, the first in terms of immediate causes and the second in terms of ultimate cause. But both are true, both are complementary and not competitive. One answer is appropriate within a particular frame of reference, the other within another frame of reference. There is a sense in which each is incomplete without the other.”
  • Source: Frank H. T. Rhodes in the essay “Christianity in a Mechanistic Universe”, included in the book “Christianity in a Mechanistic Universe and Other Essays” edited by Donald M. MacKay, published by Inter-Varsity Press, Chicago, Illinois, in 1965.