Quotes About Knowledge

Socrates once said that the unexamined life is not worth living.

Mark Twain had a point when he concluded that it was not the parts of the Bible he did not understand that bothered him—but the parts he did understand!)

Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independent of anyone's knowledge of it. (Gravity existed prior to Newton.)

The abashed modesty that faddish cultural relativism seeks to impose on us is not merely unwarranted on intellectual grounds. It is a species of grave moral delinquency. Our doctors not only "know different" about how the body works, and how its illnesses and injuries may be treated, they "know better." To deny this is to open the door to all kinds of avoidable suffering, in this society and elsewhere.

A corollary of this philosophy is that it is not particularly important for a teacher to understand science well. The teacher, after all, is but a coparticipant in the process of constructing "knowledge." (The deemphasis on teacher expertise is probably just as well. As physicist Alan Cromer has pointed out, the training of teachers in constructivist methodology is marvelously suited to creating confusion about the scientific points at issue.)28

Rather, it is the ontological shadowland of "nonhuman others" that must be vindicated. In this quasi-theology, to enter the state of domination/damnation we needn't act to evil effect, deliberately or otherwise. Our "knowledge" is sufficient to condemn us. "Modern science" itself is the source of the evil taint. To know is to be guilty of dominating what is known.

When it comes to the ever-elusive goal of achieving what is usually called "scientific literacy" for the general population, it is hard not to conclude that the task is hopeless.7b

Social constructivist and postmodernist articles of faith-that no community of knowers enjoys a privileged epistemological position above any other-obviously stokes the confidence of multiculturalism's advocates when they insist that these "Otherly" perspectives be brought into today's science classroom, despite their poor fit with standard science.-';

And the second question, can poetry be taught? I didn't think so.

Scholars, I plead with you, Where are your dictionaries of the wind, the grasses?

The application of the parable is, I think, that if you do not understand a statement, then to discover that it has no verification is an important piece of information about it and makes you understand it better. That is to say, you understand it better; you do not find out that there

He is neither a strategist nor is he schooled in the operational arts, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general. Other than that he's a great military man.

As a child, I read science fiction, but from the very beginnings of my reading for pleasure, I read a lot of non-fictional history, particularly historical biography.

La macchina tecnologicamente più efficiente che l'uomo abbia mai inventato è il libro.

I think kids slowly begin to realize that what they're learning relates to other things they know. Then learning starts to get more and more exciting.

Everybody is so terribly sensitive about the things they know best.

what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.

replacing brainpower is different from replacing muscle power. Good jobs that emerged from the decline of manufacturing and rise of services required brains, not brawn. "Knowledge worker" was the category that everyone wanted to join. But now we have lost our monopoly on knowledge. Artificial intelligence can handle desirable jobs better and faster than human brains can handle them. There will be jobs for people, but who will want them?

To become properly acquainted with a truth, we must first have disbelieved it, and disputed against it.

Knowledge is only one half. Faith is the other.

The most intimate community of all knowledge—the republic of learning is the high purpose of scholars.

mad, were not my perception and reasonings so clear; and this state of mind appears to have brought with it superior knowledge on all subjects.

Inspiration without intellect is useless and dangerous; and the poet will be able to perform few wonders, when he is astonished by wonders.

If there were nothing else, reading would--obviously--be worth living for.