Science Quotes

"If we possessed all possible scientific knowledge, it would not touch even one of our real problems."

"Man has to awaken to wonder—and so perhaps do peoples. Science is a way of sending him to sleep again."

"In mathematics we are not interested in the physical, but only in the logical, properties of the objects."

"Science tells us how the world works; philosophy asks why it matters."

"Science aims to give us theories that are empirically adequate, not necessarily true."

"The goal of science is not truth but empirical adequacy."

"We can accept a scientific theory without believing it is true."

"Observable phenomena are what matter most in scientific inquiry."

"Scientific models are tools for prediction and control, not mirrors of reality."

"The underdetermination of theory by data is a fundamental feature of science."

"The success of science does not entail the truth of our theories."

"Physical theory describes the structure of observable phenomena."

"Empirical adequacy is a modest and defensible goal for science."

"Scientific progress does not require convergence to the true theory."

"Science gives us models that work, not necessarily models that are true."

"The interpretation of quantum mechanics remains philosophically open."

"Science is a human activity constrained by evidence and experience."

"The phenomena save the phenomena, as Aristotle said."

"Empirical success is compatible with multiple competing interpretations."

"Scientific models are idealized representations of selected aspects of reality."

"Empirical evidence constrains but does not uniquely determine theory choice."

"Theoretical entities are different in kind from observable entities."

"Physics describes the structure of what we can observe and measure."

"We achieve empirical adequacy through pragmatic and iterative refinement."

"Science is a conversation with nature mediated by our conceptual schemes."

"The growth of scientific knowledge is not simply accumulation but transformation."

"Good theories are empirically adequate and internally consistent."

"Empirical adequacy is a sufficient goal for scientific inquiry."

"Science succeeds by adapting our conceptual schemes to the phenomena."

"Scientific theories are cognitive tools shaped by our interactions with nature."