Rational quotes
From Motley Bytes Wiki
Contents
Jim_Baggott
The Reality Principle
“The Reality Principle. Reality is a metaphysical concept, and as such it is beyond the reach of science. Reality consists of things-in-themselves of which we can never hope to gain knowledge. Instead, we have to content ourselves with knowledge of empirical reality, of things-as-they-appear or things-as-they-are-measured. Nevertheless, scientific realists assume that reality (and its entities) exists objectively and independently of perception or measurement. They believe that reality is rational, predictable and accessible to human reason.”
- Source: Baggott, Jim. Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth (p. 8). Pegasus Books, New York, NY.
- Keywords: Reality_quotes Metaphysics_quotes Conception_quotes Science_quotes Knowledge_quotes Epistemology_quotes Empirical_quotes Measurement_quotes Objectivity_quotes Independent_quotes Perception_quotes Belief_quotes Rational_quotes Reason_quotes Prediction_quotes Accessibility_quotes Human_quotes Principle_quotes
The Veracity Principle
“The Veracity Principle. It is not possible to verify a scientific theory such that it provides absolute certainty for all time. A theory is instead accepted (or even tolerated), on the basis of its ability to survive the tests and meet additional criteria of simplicity, efficacy, utility, explanatory power and less rational, innately human measures such as beauty. Over time the theory becomes familiar and is accepted as ‘true’ or, at least, as possessing a high truth-likeness or verisimilitude. The scientists’ confidence or degree of belief in the theory grows. It is eventually absorbed into the common body of knowledge which forms the current ‘authorized’ version of empirical reality.”
- Source: Baggott, Jim. Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth (p. 22). Pegasus Books. New York, NY.
- Keywords: Veracity_quotes Verification_quotes Principle_quotes Science_quotes Theory_quotes Certainty_quotes Acceptance_quotes Tolerance_quotes Ability_quotes Survival_quotes Simplicity_quotes Efficacy_quotes Utility_quotes Explanation_quotes Power_quotes Rational_quotes Human_quotes Measurement_quotes Beauty_quotes Time_quotes Truth_quotes Probability_quotes Likelihood_quotes Verisimilitude_quotes Confidence_quotes Belief_quotes Knowledge_quotes Authority_quotes Empirical_quotes Reality_quotes
Claude_Bernard
Observer and Experimenter
“The observer does not reason, he notes; the experimenter, on the other hand, reasons and grounds himself on acquired facts, to imagine and induce rationally other facts. But though in theory and abstractly we may differentiate observers from experimenters, it seems impossible to separate them in practice.”
- 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 25. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Fred_Brooks
Rational Model
“Perhaps the most devastating critique of the Rational Model, although perhaps the hardest to prove, is that most experienced designers just don’t work that way.”
- Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (2010). The Design of Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 978-0-201-36298-5. Chapter 3, page 30.
Albert_Einstein
Illusion of Comprehension
“Time and again the passion for understanding has led to the illusion that man is able to comprehend the objective world rationally by pure thought without any empirical foundations — in short, by metaphysics.”
- Source: Albert Einstein, ‘On the Generalised Theory of Gravitation’, Scientific American, April 1950, p. 182.
Gordon_Glegg
Realms of the Design Mind
“The mind of the designer has three realms of activity... the inventive, the artistic, and the logical or rational.”
- Source: Glegg, G. L. (1969). The Design of Design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-511-79996-9. Chapter 2, page 18.
- Keywords: Mind_quotes Design_quotes Realm_quotes Activity_quotes Invention_quotes Art_quotes Logic_quotes Rational_quotes
Kurt_Gödel
Other Worlds
“There are other worlds and rational beings of a different and higher kind. The world in which we live is not the only one in which we shall live or have lived.”
- Source: As quoted in ‘A Logical Journey: From Gödel to Philosophy’ (1996) by Hao Wang, page 316.
- Keywords: Other_quotes World_quotes Rational_quotes Beings_quotes Different_quotes High_quotes Kind_quotes Live_quotes
Robert_Heinlein
Rational Animal
“Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.”
- Source: Written by Robert A. Heinlein in the magazine series “Gulf” published in 1949-11 and 1949-12 issues of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Page 59. Character: Dr. Baldwin. Online at https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm retrieved 2024-05-05.
- Keywords: Man_quotes Rational_quotes Humanity_quotes Rationalizing_quotes Animal_quotes
Carl_Jung
Rational and Irrational Art
“I am of the opinion that the union of rational and irrational truth is to be found not so much in art as in the symbol per se; for it is the essence of the symbol to contain both the rational and the irrational.”
- Source: Written by Carl Jung. See 'The Collected Works of C. G. Jung'. Edited by Herbert Read, Michael Fordham, and Gerhard Adler. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. Published by Princeton University Press, 1953-1982. Volume 10, section 24. Reprinted in the book 'The Red Book: Liber Novus: A Reader's Edition', published 2009 by W. W. Norton, ISBN: 978-039308908-0. Edited by Sonu Shamdasani, translated by Mark Kybruz, John Peck, and Sonu Shamdasani. Introduction, page 57.
- Keywords: Opinion_quotes Union_quotes Rational_quotes Irrational_quotes Truth_quotes Find_quotes Art_quotes Symbol_quotes Essence_quotes Contain_quotes
Kenneth_W_Kolence
Software Development Management
“Software product development requires (but is not itself sufficient) the design of rational and correctly integrated management and technical processes.”
- Source: Kenneth W. Kolence; Jeffrey Yost (2003). An Interview with Kenneth W. Kolence. Charles Babbage Institute Center for the History of Information Technology. Retrieved 2018-03-27 from https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107415/oh348kk.pdf .
Robert_K_Merton
Certified Knowledge
”The institutional goal of science is the extension of certified knowledge. The technical methods employed toward this end provide the relevant definition of knowledge: empirically confirmed and logically consistent predictions. The institutional imperatives (mores) derive from the goal and the methods. The entire structure of technical and moral norms implements the final objective. The technical norm of empirical evidence, adequate, valid and reliable, is a prerequisite for sustained true prediction; the technical norm of logical consistency, a prerequisite for systematic and valid prediction. The mores of science possess a methodologic rationale, but they are binding, not only because they are procedurally efficient, but because they are believed right and good. They are moral as well as technical prescriptions. Four sets of institutional imperatives – universalism, communism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism – comprise the ethos of modern science.”
- Source: Robert King Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (1957), 552-3.
- Keywords: Institution_quotes Goal_quotes Science_quotes Extension_quotes Certified_quotes Knowledge_quotes Technology_quotes Methodology_quotes Employment_quotes End_quotes Relevance_quotes Definition_quotes Empirical_quotes Confirmation_quotes Logic_quotes Consistency_quotes Prediction_quotes Imperative_quotes Derive_quotes Structure_quotes Morality_quotes Norms_quotes Implementation_quotes Final_quotes Objectives_quotes Evidence_quotes Adequate_quotes Validity_quotes Reliability_quotes Prerequisite_quotes Sustain_quotes Truth_quotes System_quotes Rational_quotes Mores_quotes Bind_quotes Procedure_quotes Efficiency_quotes Belief_quotes Right_quotes Good_quotes Prescription_quotes Universalism_quotes Communism_quotes Disinterest_quotes Skeptical_quotes Composition_quotes Ethos_quotes Modern_quotes
Rittel_and_Webber
Planning Problems are Wicked Problems
“A great many barriers keep us from perfecting such a planning/governing system. Theory is inadequate for decent forecasting, our intelligence is insufficient to our tasks, plurality of objectives held by pluralities of politics makes it impossible to pursue unitary aims, and so on. The difficulties attached to rationality are tenacious, and we have so far been unable to get untangled from their web. This is partly because the classical paradigm of science and engineering - the paradigm that has underlain modern professionalism - is not applicable to the problems of open societal systems.”
- Source: Rittel, H. W. J., & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences. DOI: 10.1007/BF01405730. Retrieved 2018-08-24 from http://urbanpolicy.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Rittel+Webber_1973_PolicySciences4-2.pdf. Section III.
- Keywords: Great_quotes Barrier_quotes Keep_quotes Perfect_quotes Plan_quotes Govern_quotes System_quotes Theory_quotes Inadequate_quotes Decent_quotes Forecast_quotes Intelligence_quotes Insufficient_quotes Task_quotes Pluralistic_quotes Objective_quotes Political_quotes Impossibility_quotes Pursuit_quotes Unitary_quotes Aim_quotes Difficulty_quotes Attach_quotes Rational_quotes Tenacious_quotes Untangle_quotes Web_quotes Classical_quotes Paradigm_quotes Science_quotes Engineering_quotes Modern_quotes Professional_quotes Applicable_quotes Problem_quotes Society_quotes
Herbert_Simon
Invisible Hand
“In examining the processes of social coordination, economics has given top billing sometimes almost exclusive billing to the market mechanism. It is indeed a remarkable mechanism... The optimality theorems stretch credibility, so far as real-world markets are concerned, because they require substantive rationality of the kinds we found implausible in our examination of the theory of the firm. Markets populated by consumers and producers who satisfice instead of optimizing do not meet the conditions on which the theorems rest.”
- Source: Simon, H. A. (1996). The Sciences of the Artificial (Third Edition). Computers & Mathematics with Applications (3rd ed., Vol. 33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780585360102. Retrieved 2018-08-23 from https://monoskop.org/images/9/9c/Simon_Herbert_A_The_Sciences_of_the_Artificial_3rd_ed.pdf. Chapter 2, page 32-33.
- Keywords: Examination_quotes Process_quotes Social_quotes Coordination_quotes Economics_quotes Top_quotes Bill_quotes Exclusive_quotes Market_quotes Mechanism_quotes Optimal_quotes Theory_quotes Stretch_quotes Credible_quotes Reality_quotes World_quotes Substance_quotes Rational_quotes Plausible_quotes Examination_quotes Firm_quotes Population_quotes Consumer_quotes Producer_quotes Satisfice_quotes Optimization_quotes Condition_quotes Invisible_quotes Hand_quotes
Game Theory
“Game theory's most valuable contribution has been to show that rationality is effectively undefinable when competitive actors have unlimited computational capabilities for outguessing each other, but that the problem does not arise as acutely in a world, like the real world, of bounded rationality.”
- Source: Simon, H. A. (1996). The Sciences of the Artificial (Third Edition). Computers & Mathematics with Applications (3rd ed., Vol. 33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780585360102. Retrieved 2018-08-23 from https://monoskop.org/images/9/9c/Simon_Herbert_A_The_Sciences_of_the_Artificial_3rd_ed.pdf. Chapter 2, page 38.
- Keywords: Game_quotes Theory_quotes Value_quotes Contribution_quotes Rational_quotes Effectiveness_quotes Definition_quotes Competition_quotes Actor_quotes Unlimited_quotes Limitation_quotes Computation_quotes Capability_quotes Guess_quotes Problem_quotes Arise_quotes Acute_quotes World_quotes Reality_quotes Bounding_quotes Rational_quotes Undefinable_quotes Outguess_quotes
Game Theory
“Game theory's most valuable contribution has been to show that rationality is effectively undefinable when competitive actors have unlimited computational capabilities for outguessing each other, but that the problem does not arise as acutely in a world, like the real world, of bounded rationality.”
- Source: Simon, H. A. (1996). The Sciences of the Artificial (Third Edition). Computers & Mathematics with Applications (3rd ed., Vol. 33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780585360102. Retrieved 2018-08-23 from https://monoskop.org/images/9/9c/Simon_Herbert_A_The_Sciences_of_the_Artificial_3rd_ed.pdf. Chapter 2, page 38.
- Keywords: Game_quotes Theory_quotes Value_quotes Contribution_quotes Rational_quotes Effectiveness_quotes Definition_quotes Competition_quotes Actor_quotes Unlimited_quotes Limitation_quotes Computation_quotes Capability_quotes Guess_quotes Problem_quotes Arise_quotes Acute_quotes World_quotes Reality_quotes Bounding_quotes Rational_quotes Undefinable_quotes Outguess_quotes
Bounded Rationality
“In a world of bounded rationality there are several ways to magnify the computing capabilities of individual human beings and enhance the possibilities of their collective survival and prosperity. With the combined use of markets and administrative hierarchies, the human species has enormously increased its capabilities for specialization and division of work.”
- Source: Simon, H. A. (1996). The Sciences of the Artificial (Third Edition). Computers & Mathematics with Applications (3rd ed., Vol. 33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780585360102. Retrieved 2018-08-23 from https://monoskop.org/images/9/9c/Simon_Herbert_A_The_Sciences_of_the_Artificial_3rd_ed.pdf. Chapter 2, page 43.
- Keywords: World_quotes Bounding_quotes Rational_quotes Way_quotes Magnify_quotes Computation_quotes Capability_quotes Individual_quotes Human_quotes Enhancement_quotes Possibility_quotes Collective_quotes Survival_quotes Prosper_quotes Combination_quotes Market_quotes Administration_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Species_quotes Enormous_quotes Increasing_quotes Specialization_quotes Division_quotes Work_quotes
Shoshana_Zuboff
Animality
“The close relationship between the rejection of animality and the progress of civilization is at the heart of our modern conception of work. Marx expressed this relationship when he argued that mastery of the material world was the basis upon which man humanized himself and developed culture. This in fact is the civilizing process; humanization means tempering animality with rationality, aesthetic grace, and moral choice.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 30. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Relationship_quotes Rejection_quotes Animality_quotes Civilization_quotes Modern_quotes Conception_quotes Work_quotes Material_quotes Humanity_quotes Culture_quotes Rational_quotes Reason_quotes Aesthetics_quotes Morality_quotes Choice_quotes Progress_quotes Heart_quotes Marx(topic)_quotes Express_quotes Argue_quotes Mastery_quotes World_quotes Basis_quotes Develop_quotes Temper_quotes
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
Know-How
“The agenda for scientific management was to increase productivity by streamlining and rationalizing factory operation from cost accounting and supervision to the dullest job on the shop floor. Efficiency was the mania, and to achieve efficiency, it would be necessary to penetrate the labor process and force it to yield up its secrets. In order that effort be rationalized, the worker's skills had to be made explicit. In many cases, workers' perceptions of their own interests prevented them from articulating their know-how, but there was yet another involuntary barrier. These skills did not easily yield themselves to explication; they were embedded in the ways of the body, in the knacks and know-how of the craftworker.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 42. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Knowledge_quotes Requirements_quotes Agenda_quotes Scientific_Management_quotes Productivity_quotes Reason_quotes Efficiency_quotes Drudgery_quotes Mania_quotes Achievement_quotes Labor_quotes Process_quotes Secret_quotes Rational_quotes Worker_quotes Skill_quotes Explicit_quotes Perception_quotes Interest_quotes Articulation_quotes Involuntary_quotes Barrier_quotes Embedded_quotes Body_quotes Subconscious_quotes Mind_quotes Craft_quotes Taylorism_quotes Science_quotes Management_quotes Increase_quotes Streamline_quotes Factory_quotes Operation_quotes Cost_quotes Accounting_quotes Supervision_quotes Dull_quotes Job_quotes Shop_quotes Floor_quotes Penetrate_quotes Force_quotes Yield_quotes Case_quotes Prevent_quotes Know-how_quotes Explication_quotes Knack_quotes Craftworker_quotes
Time Study Expert
“The time-study expert became the new focus of workers' antagonisms. Informal production quotas persisted and, in many cases, took on an overtly anti-management spirit. The union contract became the most important means for institutionalizing workers' instincts for self-preservation, as rationalization routed out the ordinary graces with which the workday had been laced. Concern over wages and hours, work rules, and working conditions began to replace the craftworker's culturally embedded practices of effort regulation. Overall, the purification of effort meant a heightened standard of labor discipline, and as such it widened the gulf between those who gave of their bodies in the service of production and those who did not.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 46. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Time_quotes Worker_quotes Production_quotes Quota_quotes Management_quotes Union_quotes Contract_quotes Importance_quotes Instinct_quotes Self-Preservation_quotes Reason_quotes Rational_quotes Compensation_quotes Hours_quotes Environment_quotes Condition_quotes Craft_quotes Culture_quotes Regulation_quotes Purification_quotes Effort_quotes Labor_quotes Discipline_quotes Body_quotes Taylorism_quotes Study_quotes Expert_quotes Focus_quotes Antagonism_quotes Informal_quotes Persist_quotes Anti-management_quotes Spirit_quotes Institutionalize_quotes Grace_quotes Workday_quotes Lace_quotes Wage_quotes Rule_quotes Embed_quotes Practice_quotes Height_quotes Standard_quotes Wide_quotes Gulf_quotes Service_quotes
Universal Transparency
“Techniques of universal transparency, even when their goal is to elicit anticipatory conformity, do not benignly serve the interests of authority. Because rationality has no guile, it can also work to limit authority.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 356. ISBN:0465032125.