Method quotes
From Motley Bytes Wiki
Contents
- 1 Aristotle
- 2 Reinout_Willem_van_Bemmelen
- 3 Claude_Bernard
- 4 Niels_Bohr
- 5 Edward_Bulwer-Lytton
- 6 Paul_Davies
- 7 John_Dewey
- 8 Samuel_C_Florman
- 9 Thomas_Gold
- 10 Eugene_Grace
- 11 Robert_Heinlein
- 12 Tony_Hoare
- 13 Robert_M_Pirsig
- 14 Michael_Polanyi
- 15 Karl_Popper
- 16 Frank_H_T_Rhodes
- 17 Royal_Society
- 18 Bertrand_Russell
- 19 Carl_Sagan
- 20 Rupert_Sheldrake
- 21 Anthony_Standen
- 22 Alfred_Tarski
- 23 Patrick_Vlaskovits
- 24 H_G_Wells
- 25 Allen_Wheelis
- 26 Alfred_North_Whitehead
- 27 Shoshana_Zuboff
Aristotle
Four Causes
“Plainly, then, these are the causes, and this is how many they are. They are four, and the student of nature should know them all, and it will be his method, when stating on account of what, to get back to them all: the matter, the form, the thing which effects the change, and what the thing is for.”'
- Source: Aristotle, From Physics, Book II, Part 7, 198a21-26. As quoted in Stephen Everson, 'Aristotle on the Foundations of the State', Political Studies (1988), 36, 89-101. Reprinted in Lloyd P. Gerson (ed.), Aristotle: Politics, Rhetoric and Aesthetics (1999), 74.
- See Also:
Reinout_Willem_van_Bemmelen
Validity of Hypothesis
“The functional validity of a working hypothesis is not a priori certain, because often it is initially based on intuition. However, logical deductions from such a hypothesis provide expectations (so-called prognoses) as to the circumstances under which certain phenomena will appear in nature. Such a postulate or working hypothesis can then be substantiated by additional observations ... The author calls such expectations and additional observations the prognosis-diagnosis method of research. Prognosis in science may be termed the prediction of the future finding of corroborative evidence of certain features or phenomena (diagnostic facts). This method of scientific research builds up and extends the relations between the subject and the object by means of a circuit of inductions and deductions.”
- Source: Reinout Willem van Bemmelen. In 'The Scientific Character of Geology', The Journal of Geology (Jul 1961), 69, No. 4, 454-5.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Hypothesis_quotes Certainty_quotes Validity_quotes Intuition_quotes Logic_quotes Deduction_quotes Expectation_quotes Nature_quotes Observation_quotes Confirmation_quotes Prognosis_quotes Diagnosis_quotes Induction_quotes Science_quotes Research_quotes Subject_quotes Object_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Functional_quotes Work_quotes Provide_quotes Circumstance_quotes Method_quotes Prediction_quotes Future_quotes Corroborate_quotes Evidence_quotes Feature_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Build_quotes Extend_quotes Relation_quotes Circuit_quotes
Claude_Bernard
Natural Man Arrogant
“Man is by nature metaphysical and proud. He has gone so far as to think that the idealistic creations of his mind, which correspond to his feelings, also represent reality. Hence it follows that the experimental method is by no means primitive or natural to man.”
- Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II page 27. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
- Keywords: Metaphysics_quotes Arrogance_quotes Belief_quotes Imagination_quotes Feelings_quotes Reality_quotes Experiment_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Mind_quotes Man_quotes Natural_quotes Capable_quotes Creation_quotes Express_quotes Identical_quotes Follow_quotes Method_quotes Proud_quotes Ideal_quotes
Minutiae of Method
“Minutiae of method are of the highest importance.”
- Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter I, page 14. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
- Keywords: Minutiae_quotes Method_quotes High_quotes Important_quotes
Experimental Method Object
“The object of the experimental method is to transform this ‘a priori’ conception, based on an intuition or a vague feeling about the nature of things, into an ‘a posteriori’ interpretation founded on the experimental study of phenomena.”
- Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 27. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
- Note: ‘A priori’ is Latin for ‘from the earlier’. ‘A posteriori’ is Latin for ‘from the later’.
- Keywords: Object_quotes Experimental_quotes Method_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Transform_quotes Conception_quotes Base_quotes Intuition_quotes Vague_quotes Feeling_quotes Nature_quotes Thing_quotes Interpretation_quotes Found_quotes Study_quotes Phenomena_quotes A_Priori_quotes A_Posteriori_quotes
Experimental Method Scientific
“The experimental method is the scientific method which proclaims the freedom of the mind and of thought.”
- Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 43. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
- Keywords: Experimental_quotes Method_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Proclaim_quotes Freedom_quotes Mind_quotes Thought_quotes
Niels_Bohr
Physics and Human Experience
“Physics is to be regarded not so much as the study of something given a priori, but rather as the development of methods for ordering and surveying human experience.”
- Source: Niels Bohr, in the book ‘Essays 1958–1962 on Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge’, published by Interscience in 1963. Page 10.
Edward_Bulwer-Lytton
Art and Science
"Art and science have their meeting point in method."
- Source: Earl Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Caxtoniana (1875), 303.
- Keywords: Art_quotes Science_quotes Mind_quotes Meet_quotes Point_quotes Method_quotes
Paul_Davies
Hidden Links
"Finding hidden links between seemingly disparate phenomena is what makes the scientific method so powerful and compelling. The distinctive feature of science is that it is both broad and deep: broad in the way it tackles all physical phenomena and deep in the way it weaves them, economically, into a common explanatory scheme requiring fewer and fewer assumptions. No other system of thought can match its breadth and depth."
- Source: Paul Davies, Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe is Just Right for Life (2007)
- Keywords: Hiding_quotes Link_quotes Relationship_quotes Phenomena_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Power_quotes Feature_quotes Science_quotes Breadth_quotes Depth_quotes Explanation_quotes Scheme_quotes Requirements_quotes Assumption_quotes System_quotes Thinking_quotes Find_quotes Disparate_quotes Method_quotes Compelling_quotes Distinct_quotes Tackle_quotes Physical_quotes Deep_quotes Weave_quotes Economic_quotes
John_Dewey
Scientific Inquiry
“That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not seem unreasonable. Nor is it absurd to expect that they should go forth with a lively interest in the ways in which knowledge is improved and a marked distaste for all conclusions reached in disharmony with the methods of scientific inquiry.”
- Source: John Dewey, Address to Section L, Education, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Boston (1909), 'Science as Subject-Matter and as Method'. Published in Science (28 Jan 1910), N.S. Vol. 31, No. 787, 126.
- Keywords: Science_quotes School_quotes Idea_quotes Evidence_quotes Belief_quotes Interest_quotes Knowledge_quotes Conclusion_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Error_quotes Improvement_quotes Majority_quotes Substantiate_quotes Absurd_quotes Expect_quotes Distaste_quotes Disharmony_quotes Method_quotes Inquiry_quotes
Scientific Method
“The scientific method is the only authentic means at our command for getting at the significance of our everyday experiences of the world in which we live. It means that scientific method provides a working pattern of the way in which and the conditions under which experiences are used to lead ever onward and outward. ... Consequently, whatever the level of experience, we have no choice but either to operate in accord with the pattern it provides or else to neglect the place of intelligence in the development and control of a living and moving experience.”
- Source: John Dewey, In Experience And Education (1938), 88
- Keywords: Science_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Authenticity_quotes Significance_quotes Experience_quotes World_quotes Choice_quotes Pattern_quotes Intelligence_quotes Improvement_quotes Method_quotes Condition_quotes Onward_quotes Outward_quotes Operate_quotes Accord_quotes Neglect_quotes Development_quotes Control_quotes Living_quotes Moving_quotes
Samuel_C_Florman
Engineer Thinking
“They felt that they were improving the world, not only by their deeds, but also by their way of thinking. If engineers could solve problems by being open-minded and free of preconceptions and prejudices — by applying scientific methods — could not all men learn to think in this mode, and then would not ignorance, superstition and bigotry vanish?”
- Source: From the book “The Existential Pleasures of Engineering” by {Samuel C. Florman}. Second edition published in 1994 by {St. Martin's Press}, New York, NY. First edition published in 1976. Kindle edition published in 2023. E-book ISBN 978-1466842366. Chapter 1, page 7.
- Keywords: Engineer_quotes Feel_quotes Improve_quotes World_quotes Deed_quotes Way_quotes Thinking_quotes Solve_quotes Problem_quotes Being_quotes Open_quotes Minded_quotes Free_quotes Preconception_quotes Prejudice_quotes Apply_quotes Scientific_quotes Method_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Men_quotes Humanity_quotes Learn_quotes Mode_quotes Ignorance_quotes Superstition_quotes Bigotry_quotes Vanish_quotes
Thomas_Gold
Knowledge Rules
“In no subject is there a rule, compliance with which will lead to new knowledge or better understanding. Skilful observations, ingenious ideas, cunning tricks, daring suggestions, laborious calculations, all these may be required to advance a subject. Occasionally the conventional approach in a subject has to be studiously followed; on other occasions it has to be ruthlessly disregarded. Which of these methods, or in what order they should be employed is generally unpredictable. Analogies drawn from the history of science are frequently claimed to be a guide; but, as with forecasting the next game of roulette, the existence of the best analogy to the present is no guide whatever to the future. The most valuable lesson to be learnt from the history of scientific progress is how misleading and strangling such analogies have been, and how success has come to those who ignored them.”
- Source: Thomas Gold, 'Cosmology', in Arthur Beer (ed.), Vistas in Astronomy (1956), Vol. 2, 1722.
- Keywords: Rule_quotes Subject_quotes Compliance_quotes Knowledge_quotes Understanding_quotes Skill_quotes Observation_quotes Idea_quotes Trick_quotes Courage_quotes Labor_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Creativity_quotes Prediction_quotes Analogy_quotes History_quotes Science_quotes Game_quotes Success_quotes Ingenious_quotes Cunning_quotes Daring_quotes Suggest_quotes Calculation_quotes Conventional_quotes Approach_quotes Order_quotes Follow_quotes Ruthless_quotes Disregard_quotes Method_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Guide_quotes Forecast_quotes Roulette_quotes Existence_quotes Present_quotes Future_quotes Value_quotes Learn_quotes Progress_quotes Mislead_quotes Strangle_quotes Ignore_quotes
Eugene_Grace
Cooperation
“In college and universities each student is given problems to work out, always by himself, never in cooperation with others. The present-day method of education may be suitable enough for lawyers, doctors, ministers, etc., but it is certainly not suitable for men who are going to enter engineering, industry, commerce, or business of any kind, where the very soul of success is cooperation with others.”
- Source: Eugene Grace quotes in the article written by B. C. Forbes entitled 'Gene Grace - Whose Story Reads Like a Fairy Tale', published in 'The American Magazine', 1920, volume 90, Page 86. Online at https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Magazine/qrM7AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 accessed 2021-02-09.
- Keywords: College_quotes University_quotes Education_quotes Student_quotes Problem_quotes Work_quotes Cooperation_quotes Methodology_quotes Lawyer_quotes Doctor_quotes Minister_quotes Suitability_quotes Man_quotes Engineering_quotes Industrial_quotes Commerce_quotes Business_quotes Soul_quotes Success_quotes Method_quotes Suitable_quotes
Robert_Heinlein
Scientific Method
“There are but two ways of forming an opinion in science. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.”.
- Source: Written by Robert A. Heinlein in the short story “Life-Line” originally published in the 1939-08 edition of “Astounding Science Fiction” magazine, page 83. Character: Dr. Pinero. Retrieved 2024-05-05 from https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm.
- Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes Way_quotes Form_quotes Opinion_quotes Scholastic_quotes Judge_quotes Experiment_quotes Blind_quotes Accept_quotes Authority_quotes Mind_quotes Proof_quotes Important_quotes Theory_quotes Convenience_quotes Description_quotes Junk_quotes Fit_quotes Academic_quotes Everything_quotes Fact_quotes Laid_quotes Down_quotes
Tony_Hoare
Software Design
“…there are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.”
- Source: Hoare, C. A. R. (1981). The 1980 ACM Turing Award Lecture: The Emperor’s Old Clothes. Communications of the ACM, 24(2), 75–83.
Robert_M_Pirsig
Traditional Scientific Method
“Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20-20 hindsight. It's good for seeing where you've been. It's good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can't tell you where you ought to go.”
- Source: Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), 251.
Michael_Polanyi
Scientific Method Elucidation
“Almost every major systematic error which has deluded men for thousands of years relied on practical experience. Horoscopes, incantations, oracles, magic, witchcraft, the cures of witch doctors and of medical practitioners before the advent of modern medicine, were all firmly established through the centuries in the eyes of the public by their supposed practical successes. The scientific method was devised precisely for the purpose of elucidating the nature of things under more carefully controlled conditions and by more rigorous criteria than are present in the situations created by practical problems.”
- Source: Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge (1958), 183.
- Keywords: Major_quotes System_quotes Error_quotes Delusion_quotes Humanity_quotes Year_quotes Practical_quotes Experience_quotes Horoscope_quotes Incantation_quotes Oracle_quotes Magic_quotes Witchcraft_quotes Cure_quotes Witch-Doctor_quotes Medical_quotes Practitioner_quotes Modern_quotes Medicine_quotes Firm_quotes Establish_quotes Century_quotes Eye_quotes Public_quotes Suppose_quotes Success_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Devise_quotes Precision_quotes Purpose_quotes Elucidate_quotes Nature_quotes Careful_quotes Control_quotes Condition_quotes Rigorous_quotes Criteria_quotes Present_quotes Situation_quotes Create_quotes Problem_quotes Thousand_quotes Doctor_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes
Karl_Popper
Pseudo-Science
“Science is distinguished from pseudo-science - or from 'metaphysics' - by its empirical method, which is essentially inductive.”
- Source: Popper, K. R. (1963). Science as Falsifiability. In (Popper, 1963) Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. Routledge. London UK. Retrieved from http://worthylab.tamu.edu/Courses_files/Popper_ConjecturesandRefutations.pdf
- Keywords: Science_quotes Distinguish_quotes Pseudo-Science_quotes Metaphysics_quotes Empirical_quotes Essential_quotes Induction_quotes Method_quotes
Frank_H_T_Rhodes
Scientific Method Essence
“The essence of scientific method is the method of inductive and empirical enquiry, the process of observation, experiment and hypothesis... The second important aspect of scientific method is its abstraction.”
- 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.
Royal_Society
On No Man's Word
“Nullius in Verba. - On no man’s word.”
- Source: Motto of the Royal Society, Royal Society of London
- Notes: The Royal Society's motto 'Nullius in verba' is taken to mean 'take nobody's word for it'. It is an expression of the determination of Fellows to withstand the domination of authority and to verify all statements by an appeal to facts determined by experiment. See https://royalsociety.org/about-us/history/
- Keywords: Humanity_quotes Word_quotes Skeptical_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Evidence_quotes Man_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes
Bertrand_Russell
Scientific Method Complicated and Simple
“Scientific method, although in its more refined forms it may seem complicated, is in essence remarkably simply. It consists in observing such facts as will enable the observer to discover general laws governing facts of the kind in question. The two stages, first of observation, and second of inference to a law, are both essential, and each is susceptible of almost indefinite refinement.”
- Source: Bertrand Russell (1931), In The Scientific Outlook (1931, 2009), 3.
- Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Refine_quotes Form_quotes Complexity_quotes Simplicity_quotes Essential_quotes Remarkable_quotes Consist_quotes Observation_quotes Fact_quotes Enable_quotes Discovery_quotes Generality_quotes Law_quotes Govern_quotes Kind_quotes Question_quotes Stage_quotes Inference_quotes Susceptible_quotes Indefinite_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes
Fire Burns
“The first man who said 'fire burns' was employing scientific method, at any rate if he had allowed himself to be burnt several times. This man had already passed through the two stages of observation and generalization. He had not, however, what scientific technique demands — a careful choice of significant facts on the one hand, and, on the other hand, various means of arriving at laws otherwise than by mere generalization.”
- Source: Bertrand Russell, (1931), In The Scientific Outlook (1931, 2009), 3.
- Keywords: First_quotes Humanity_quotes Fire_quotes Burn_quotes Employment_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Allow_quotes Repeatability_quotes Stage_quotes Observation_quotes Generality_quotes Demand_quotes Careful_quotes Choice_quotes Significance_quotes Fact_quotes Hand_quotes Arrive_quotes Law_quotes Man_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes
Fed the Chicken
“The man who has fed the chicken every day throughout its life at last wrings its neck instead, showing that more refined views as to the uniformity of nature would have been useful to the chicken.”
- Source: Bertrand Russell, (1912), In the book entitled “The Problems of Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell. Second edition published in 1998 (originally published in 1912) by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. Chapter 6. ISBN 978-0-19-285423-0. Online at <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5827> retrieved 2022.
Carl_Sagan
Wrong Hypothesis OK
“There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny.”
- Source: Carl Sagan, Quoted in Donald R. Prothero and Carl Dennis Buell, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters (2007), 3.
Rupert_Sheldrake
Empirical Approach
“Science needs to be liberated from these constrictive dogmas of mechanistic materialism... If we go beyond those dogmas, science gets much more interesting. All sorts of new research become possible. New questions can be asked. We can find out more about nature and more about consciousness by doing science in a new more open way. But what remains part of science so crucial to it is the empirical approach. The putting forward of hypotheses, the critical discussion, and the testing of hypotheses by experiment, the scientific method.”
- Source: Rupert Sheldrake. The video “Nature's Hidden Intelligence: Morphic Fields”. Online at https://youtu.be/qrIlWrGe4w4?t=4894. Posted 2025-01-03. Video offset 1:21:34.
- Keywords: Need_quotes Liberate_quotes Constrict_quotes Dogma_quotes Mechanistic_quotes Materialism_quotes Interesting_quotes New_quotes Research_quotes Possible_quotes Question_quotes Ask_quotes Find_quotes Nature_quotes Consciousness_quotes Do_quotes Open_quotes Way_quotes Remain_quotes Part_quotes Science_quotes Crucial_quotes Empirical_quotes Approach_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Critical_quotes Discussion_quotes Test_quotes Experiment_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Method_quotes
Anthony_Standen
True Conclusions
“But although in theory physicists realize that their conclusions are ...not certainly true, this ... does not really sink into their consciousness. Nearly all the time ...they ... act as if Science were indisputably True, and what's more, as if only science were true ...Any information obtained otherwise than by the scientific method, although it may be true, the scientists will call 'unscientific,' using this word as a smear word, by bringing in the connotation from its original [Greek] meaning, to imply that the information is false, or at any rate slightly phony.”
- Source: Anthony Standen, In Science is a Sacred Cow (1950), 176-77.
- Keywords: Theory_quotes Physicist_quotes Realization_quotes Conclusion_quotes Certainty_quotes True_quotes Sink_quotes Consciousness_quotes Time_quotes Act_quotes Science_quotes Indisputable_quotes Information_quotes Obtain_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Unscientific_quotes Word_quotes Smear_quotes Connotation_quotes Original_quotes Meaning_quotes Imply_quotes False_quotes Phony_quotes Method_quotes
Alfred_Tarski
Satisfaction
“The semantical ambiguity attaching to the concept of satisfaction in its original conception renders an exact characterization of this concept in a single sentence, or even a finite number of sentences, impossible, and so denies us the use of the only method so far known to us of constructing a definition of a true sentence.”
- Source: Alfred Tarski in his article ‘The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages’, written originally in Polish in 1933, translated to English in 1983 by J. H. Woodger and published within the book ‘Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics’ edited by J. Corcoran, page 225. Online at http://www.thatmarcusfamily.org/philosophy/Course_Websites/Readings/Tarski%20-%20The%20Concept%20of%20Truth%20in%20Formalized%20Languages.pdf.
- Keywords: Semantic_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Attach_quotes Concept_quotes Satisfaction_quotes Original_quotes Render_quotes Exact_quotes Characterization_quotes Single_quotes Sentence_quotes Finite_quotes Number_quotes Impossible_quotes Deny_quotes Use_quotes Method_quotes Far_quotes Know_quotes Construct_quotes Definition_quotes True_quotes
Patrick_Vlaskovits
Faster Horse
“However, even if Ford didn’t verbalize his thoughts on customers’ ostensible inability to communicate their unmet needs for innovative products — history indicates that Henry Ford most certainly did think along those lines... Henry Ford froze the design of the Model T... Ford had no compelling reason to innovate in any other sphere other than cost and price reduction... But everything changed with the onset of the innovations introduced by General Motors in the 1920s, which took the direct opposite of Henry Ford’s tack of “Any color … so long as it is black” and is best summed up by Alfred Sloan’s consumer-research driven “A Car for Every Purse and Purpose”... In 1921, the Ford Motor Company sold about 2/3 of all the cars built in the U.S. By 1926, this share had fallen to approximately 1/3. And in 1927, when Ford belatedly responded (at tremendous financial cost and internal strife) to changes in the market’s tastes and competitive innovation by shutting down production temporarily to re-tool his factories and bring the Model A to the market, that percentage fell to about 15%... Yes, some customers in certain types of businesses are quite capable of verbalizing precisely what sort of innovative product one could build and sell them. And of course, customers in other types of businesses are wholly incapable of verbalizing, with any sort of fidelity whatsoever, what they need and why they need it. An innovator should have understanding of one’s customers and their problems via empirical, observational, anecdotal methods or even intuition. They should also feel free to ignore customers’ inputs. Because by now it should be clear that Ford’s adherence to his vision of the mass-market car and how to materialize that vision was instrumental in both his early success in growing Ford Motor Company as well as his later failure to respond in a timely and effective manner to rapid innovation in the marketplace.”'
- Source: Patrick Vlaskovits in the article “Henry Ford, Innovation, and That Faster Horse Quote”, published by Harvard Business Review, 2011-08-29. Online at https://hbr.org/2011/08/henry-ford-never-said-the-fast retrieved 2024-05-28.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Ford(topic)_quotes Sloan(topic)_quotes Verbalize_quotes Thinking_quotes Customer_quotes Requirements_quotes Ostensible_quotes Inability_quotes Communication_quotes Unmet_quotes Need_quotes Innovation_quotes Product_quotes History_quotes Freeze_quotes Design_quotes Model_T_quotes Automobile_quotes Compel_quotes Sphere_quotes Cost_quotes Price_quotes Reduction_quotes Change_quotes General_Motors_quotes Consumer_quotes Research_quotes Opposite_quotes Color_quotes Black_quotes Car_quotes Purse_quotes Ford_Motor_quotes Build_quotes United_States_quotes Share_quotes Market_quotes Belated_quotes Respond_quotes Tremendous_quotes Financial_quotes Internal_quotes Strife_quotes Taste_quotes Competition_quotes Shut_quotes Production_quotes Tool_quotes Factory_quotes Model_A_quotes Percentage_quotes Type_quotes Business_quotes Capable_quotes Precise_quotes Sort_quotes Sell_quotes Incapable_quotes Fidelity_quotes What_quotes Why_quotes Understand_quotes Problem_quotes Empirical_quotes Observation_quotes Anecdotal_quotes Method_quotes Intuition_quotes Feel_quotes Free_quotes Ignore_quotes Input_quotes Clear_quotes Adherence_quotes Vision_quotes Mass_quotes Innovator_quotes Materialize_quotes Instrumental_quotes Success_quotes Early_quotes Grow_quotes Later_quotes Failure_quotes Timely_quotes Effective_quotes Manner_quotes Rapid_quotes Marketplace_quotes Horse_quotes Faster_quotes
H_G_Wells
Statistical Training
“A certain elementary training in statistical method is becoming as necessary for anyone living in this world of today as reading and writing.”
- Source: Wells, H. G. (1938). World Brain chap. II (The Brain Organization of the Modern World). London, UK: Methuen and Co. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/.
Allen_Wheelis
Science Accuracy Certainty
“Science would have us believe that such accuracy, leading to certainty, is the only criterion of knowledge, would make the trial of Galileo the paradigm of the two points of view which aspire to truth, would suggest, that is, that the cardinals represent only superstition and repression, while Galileo represents freedom. But there is another criterion which is systematically neglected in this elevation of science. Man does not now — and will not ever — live by the bread of scientific method alone. He must deal with life and death, with love and cruelty and despair, and so must make conjectures of great importance which may or may not be true and which do not lend themselves to experimentation: It is better to give than to receive; Love thy neighbor as thyself; Better to risk slavery through non-violence than to defend freedom with murder. We must deal with such propositions, must decide whether they are true, whether to believe them, whether to act on them — and scientific method is no help for by their nature these matters lie forever beyond the realm of science.”
- Source: Allen Wheelis, In The End of the Modern Age (1973), 89.
- Keywords: Science_quotes Belief_quotes Accuracy_quotes Lead_quotes Certainty_quotes Criteria_quotes Knowledge_quotes Trial_quotes Galileo(topic)_quotes Paradigm_quotes Point_quotes View_quotes Aspiration_quotes Truth_quotes Suggestion_quotes Cardinal_quotes Representation_quotes Superstition_quotes Repression_quotes Freedom_quotes Systematic_quotes Neglect_quotes Elevation_quotes Humanity_quotes Bread_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Deal_quotes Living_quotes Death_quotes Love_quotes Cruel_quotes Despair_quotes Conjecture_quotes Importance_quotes True_quotes Lend_quotes Experiment_quotes Better_quotes Give_quotes Recieve_quotes Neighbor_quotes Risk_quotes Slavery_quotes Violence_quotes Non-Violence_quotes Defend_quotes Murder_quotes Proposition_quotes Decision_quotes Act_quotes Help_quotes Nature_quotes Forever_quotes Beyond_quotes Realm_quotes Man_quotes Method_quotes
Alfred_North_Whitehead
Rigid Dogma Destroys Truth
“It is rigid dogma that destroys truth; and, please notice, my emphasis is not on the dogma, but on the rigidity. When men say of any question, ‘This is all there is to be known or said of the subject; investigation ends here,' that is death. It may be that the mischief comes not from the thinker but for the use made of his thinking by late-comers. Aristotle, for example, gave us our scientific technique ... yet his logical propositions, his instruction in sound reasoning which was bequeathed to Europe, are valid only within the limited framework of formal logic, and, as used in Europe, they stultified the minds of whole generations of medieval Schoolmen. Aristotle invented science, but destroyed philosophy.”
- Source: Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, as recorded by Lucien Price (1954, 2001), 165.
- Keywords: Rigidity_quotes Dogma_quotes Destroy_quotes Truth_quotes Emphasis_quotes Men_quotes Say_quotes Question_quotes Knowledge_quotes Subject_quotes Investigation_quotes Death_quotes Mischief_quotes Come_quotes Thinker_quotes Late_quotes Aristotle(topic)_quotes Example_quotes Logic_quotes Science_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Technique_quotes Proposition_quotes Instruction_quotes Sound_quotes Reason_quotes Bequeath_quotes Europe(topic)_quotes Validity_quotes Limitation_quotes Framework_quotes Formal_quotes Stultify_quotes Mind_quotes Generation_quotes Medieval_quotes Schoolmen_quotes Philosophy_quotes Method_quotes
Shoshana_Zuboff
Frederick Taylor
“The man who emerged as the chief symbol of the rational approach to management was Frederick Taylor. Though much has been written on Taylor and the philosophy and methods of scientific management, it is worth highlighting a few central themes for three reasons. First, Taylorism explicitly treats the worker's body in its two dimensions -- as a source of effort and as a source of skill. Second, workers' responses to Taylorism reveal the ambivalence that this dual role of the body can create, as it did among the bleach plant operators or the nineteenth-century glassmakers. Third, the logic that motivated the early purveyors and adapters of scientific management has continued to dominate the course of automation in the twentieth-century workplace. As will be argued later, it is a logic that must undergo a fundamental reevaluation as information technology is widely adapted to productive activity.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 41. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Scientific_Management_quotes Effort_quotes Skill_quotes Ambivalence_quotes Automation_quotes Information_Technology_quotes Information_quotes Technology_quotes Workplace_quotes Taylor(topic)_quotes Man_quotes Emerge_quotes Chief_quotes Symbol_quotes Rational_quotes Approach_quotes Management_quotes Philosophy_quotes Method_quotes Central_quotes Theme_quotes Reason_quotes Treat_quotes Worker_quotes Body_quotes Dimension_quotes Source_quotes Response_quotes Reveal_quotes Dual_quotes Role_quotes Create_quotes Bleach_quotes Plant_quotes Operator_quotes Glassmaker_quotes Logic_quotes Motivation_quotes Purveyor_quotes Adapter_quotes Dominate_quotes Course_quotes Fundamental_quotes Reevaluation_quotes Productive_quotes Activity_quotes
“Taylor believed it was necessary to share the fruits of such productivity increases and saw the differential piece-rate system, a central tenet of scientific management, as a method of uniting workers and managers in a bond of common interest. But incentive wages are devilishly hard to administer, and all too often, managers attracted to differential wage schemes succumbed to shortcuts that promised fast gains. Managers would frequently change piece rates as workers learned to meet the standards. This led to the complaints of overwork with which unions relentlessly dogged proponents of Taylorism. Scientific management frequently meant not only that individual effort was simplified (either because of labor-saving equipment or new organizational methods that fragmented tasks into their simplest components), but also that the pace of effort was intensified, thus raising the level of fatigue and stress.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 45. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Fruit_quotes Sharing_quotes Productivity_quotes Scientific_Management_quotes Worker_quotes Management_quotes Incentive_quotes Employment_quotes Compensation_quotes Cooperation_quotes Fast_quotes Short_Sighted_quotes Change_quotes Exploitation_quotes Union_quotes Taylorism_quotes Automation_quotes Simplification_quotes Organization_quotes Fatigue_quotes Stress_quotes Taylor(topic)_quotes Increase_quotes Unite_quotes Bond_quotes Common_quotes Interest_quotes Wage_quotes Devilish_quotes Hard_quotes Administer_quotes Attract_quotes Differential_quotes Scheme_quotes Succum_quotes Shortcut_quotes Promise_quotes Gain_quotes Frequent_quotes Piece_quotes Rate_quotes Learn_quotes Standard_quotes Complaint_quotes Overwork_quotes Relentless_quotes Dogged_quotes Proponent_quotes Individual_quotes Effort_quotes Equipment_quotes Method_quotes Fragment_quotes Task_quotes Component_quotes Pace_quotes Intense_quotes Raise_quotes Level_quotes