Common Origin Quotes (1 quote)
Generalisations which are fruitful because they reveal in a single general principle the rationale of a great many particular truths, the connections and common origins of which had not previously been seen, are found in all the sciences, and particularly in mathematics. Such generalisations are the most important of all, and their discovery is the work of genius.
From Essai sur les Fondements de nos Connaissances et sur les Caractères de la Critique Philosophique (1851), 28, as translated by Merritt H Moore in An Essay on the Foundations of Our Knowledge (1956), 24. From the original French: “Il y a dans toutes les sciences, et en mathématiques particulièrement, des généralisations fécondes, parce qu’elles nous montrent dans une vérité générale la raison d’une multitude de vérités particulières dont les liens et la commune origine n’étaient point aperçus. De telles généralisations sont des découvertes du génie, et les plus importantes de toutes.”
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
