Quotes About Explanation

A theory is just a mathematical model to describe the observations.

To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy.

Naturally, since [the Sumerians] didn't know what caused the flood anymore than we do, they blamed the gods. (That's the advantage of religion. You're never short an explanation for anything.)

Randomness scares people. Religion is a way to explain randomness.

Religion began as a natural explanation of the universe. The problem started when people refused to accept new evidence.

The genius of a man capable of explaining religion seems to me to be of a higher order than that of a founder of religion. And that is the glory to which I aspire.

He was going to need God Almighty to come down from On High to explain this one.

People believe in God because they don't have any other explanation for things that happen.

Science can explain what exists in the world, how things work, and what might be in the future. By definition, it has no pretensions to knowing what should be in the future. Only religions and ideologies seek to answer such questions.

Maybe someday breakthroughs in neurobiology will enable us to explain communism and the crusades in strictly biochemical terms. Yet we are very far from that point.

Assim, o monoteísmo explica a ordem, mas não o mal. O dualismo oferece uma explicação para o mal, mas não para a questão da ordem. Há uma maneira lógica de resolver essa charada: afirmar que há um único Deus onipotente que criou o universo inteiro – e Ele é um Deus maligno. Mas ninguém, em toda a história, teve estômago para tal crença.

From the Cognitive Revolution onwards, historical narratives replace biological theories as our primary means of explaining the development of Homo sapiens

A falta de las almas eternas y de un Dios Creador, a los liberales les resulta embarazosamente difícil explicar qué es lo que tiene de tan especial el sapiens individual.

What is the difference between describing 'how' and explaining 'why'? To describe 'how' means to reconstruct the series of specific events that led from one point to another. To explain 'why' means to find causal connections that account for the occurrence of this particular series of events to the exclusion of all others.

If I get enough letters saying you never explained this or that, I suppose I'll have to write another book.

Given the absurdity of antisemitic accusations, why do they gain any traction? One explanation may be that, having been embedded in society for millennia, they have gained a staying power that is hard to eradicate. Antisemitism also became a means of explaining otherwise inexplicable situations.

To try to defeat an irrational supposition—especially when it is firmly held by its proponents—with a rational explanation is virtually impossible.

Conspiracy theories give events that may seem inexplicable to some people an intentional explanation.

Hidup memang aneh. Banyak penjelasan dalam ketidakjelasannya.

The kitchen, dining room, and living room are mixed up together in a snuggly way, always warmed by the fireplace and the Aga. Peter has never seen an Aga, this gigantic iron cooking invention. I get to explain to him how it works, that the ovens and circular metal iron-topped grills are always on. I show him that you switch a pan from a high-heat grill to a low-heat one and control the cooking that way. It's like knowing a foreign language.

I want my music to do the explaining.

Ida Noddack's theories and Lise Meitner's explanations had resulted in a chain reaction of their own, science colliding with military and industry, splitting into compartmentalized and mobilized units, each moving along its own trajectory, ready to make sand jump in the desert.

You look angry," he said. "You put me on hold." "For a very good reason." "You put me," she said very, very slowly, "on hold.

The strength of a theory is not what it allows, but what it prohibits; if you can invent an equally persuasive explanation for any outcome, you have zero knowledge.