TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “We are here to celebrate the completion of the first survey of the entire human genome. Without a doubt, this is the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by human kind.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index N > Category: Naive

Naive Quotes (13 quotes)

Dare to be naïve.
Motto for Synergetics: Explorations for the Geometry of Thinking (1975), xix.
Science quotes on:  |  Dare (55)  |  Daring (17)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Motivation (28)

Every mathematical discipline goes through three periods of development: the naive, the formal, and the critical.
Quoted in R Remmert, Theory of complex functions (New York, 1989).
Science quotes on:  |  Critical (73)  |  Development (441)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Formal (37)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Period (200)  |  Through (846)

Humanity, in the course of time, had to endure from the hands of science two great outrages against its naive self-love. The first was when humanity discovered that our earth was not the center of the universe…. The second occurred when biological research robbed man of his apparent superiority under special creation, and rebuked him with his descent from the animal kingdom, and his ineradicable animal nature.
From a series of 28 lectures for laymen, Part Three, 'General Theory of the Neurons', Lecture 18, 'Traumatic Fixation—the Unconscious' collected in Sigmund Freud and G. Stanley Hall (trans.), A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (1920), 246-247.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Kingdom (21)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Center (35)  |  Course (413)  |  Creation (350)  |  Descent (30)  |  Discover (571)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Endure (21)  |  First (1302)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hand (149)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Ingrained (5)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Outrage (3)  |  Research (753)  |  Rob (6)  |  Science And Society (25)  |  Self (268)  |  Special (188)  |  Superiority (19)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accentuate (2)  |  Asset (6)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Briefly (5)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Constantly (27)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Deprive (14)  |  Deteriorate (3)  |  Deterioration (10)  |  Devote (45)  |  Drive (61)  |  Economic (84)  |  Egotistical (2)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Essence (85)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experience (494)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Individual (420)  |  Insecure (5)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lonely (24)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Moreover (3)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Organic (161)  |  Perilous (4)  |  Point (584)  |  Position (83)  |  Positive (98)  |  Prisoner (8)  |  Process (439)  |  Progressively (4)  |  Protective (5)  |  Reach (286)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Right (473)  |  Short (200)  |  Simple (426)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Suffer (43)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Threat (36)  |  Through (846)  |  Tie (42)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unsophisticated (2)  |  Weak (73)  |  Whatever (234)

Indeed, this epistemological theory of the relation between theory and experiment differs sharply from the epistemological theory of naive falsificationism.
In Radio Lecture (30 Jun 1973) broadcast by the Open University, collected in Imre Lakatos, John Worrall (ed.) and Gregory Currie (ed.), 'Introduction: Science and Pseudoscience', The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes (1978, 1980), Vol. 1, 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Differ (88)  |  Epistemological (2)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Falsification (11)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Relation (166)  |  Sharply (4)  |  Theory (1015)

It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory of rationality, rests on too naive a view of man and his social surroundings. To those who look at the rich material provided by history, and who are not intent on impoverishing it in order to please their lower instincts, their craving for intellectual security in the form of clarity, precision, “objectivity”, “truth”, it will become clear that there is only one principle that can be defended under all circumstances and in all stages of human development. It is the principle: anything goes.
Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 18-19.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Development (441)  |  Form (976)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Method (531)  |  Objectivity (17)  |  Order (638)  |  Please (68)  |  Precision (72)  |  Principle (530)  |  Rationality (25)  |  Rest (287)  |  Security (51)  |  Social (261)  |  Stage (152)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  View (496)  |  Will (2350)

Philosophers say a great deal about what is absolutely necessary for science, and it is always, so far as one can see, rather naive, and probably wrong.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Deal (192)  |  Far (158)  |  Great (1610)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Probably (50)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Wrong (246)

Philosophical reflection could not leave the relation of mind and spirit in the obscurity which had satisfied the needs of the naive consciousness.
Science quotes on:  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Spirit (278)

Probably I am very naive, but I also think I prefer to remain so, at least for the time being and perhaps for the rest of my life.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Least (75)  |  Life (1870)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Probably (50)  |  Remain (355)  |  Rest (287)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)

Scientific discovery, or the formulation of scientific theory, starts in with the unvarnished and unembroidered evidence of the senses. It starts with simple observation—simple, unbiased, unprejudiced, naive, or innocent observation—and out of this sensory evidence, embodied in the form of simple propositions or declarations of fact, generalizations will grow up and take shape, almost as if some process of crystallization or condensation were taking place. Out of a disorderly array of facts, an orderly theory, an orderly general statement, will somehow emerge.
In 'Is the Scientific Paper Fraudulent?', The Saturday Review (1 Aug 1964), 42.
Science quotes on:  |  Array (5)  |  Condensation (12)  |  Crystallization (2)  |  Declaration (10)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Embody (18)  |  Emerge (24)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Form (976)  |  Formulation (37)  |  General (521)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Grow (247)  |  Innocent (13)  |  Observation (593)  |  Order (638)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Process (439)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Theory (24)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sensory (16)  |  Shape (77)  |  Simple (426)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Start (237)  |  Statement (148)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Unbiased (7)  |  Unprejudiced (3)  |  Unvarnished (2)  |  Will (2350)

Scientists often have a naive faith that if only they could discover enough facts about a problem, these facts would somehow arrange themselves in a compelling and true solution.
In Mankind Evolving: The Evolution of the Human Species, 128. As cited in Ted Woods & Alan Grant, Reason in Revolt - Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science (2003), Vol. 2, 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Arrange (33)  |  Compelling (11)  |  Discover (571)  |  Enough (341)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Faith (209)  |  Problem (731)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Solution (282)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Themselves (433)  |  True (239)

The degree of exactness of the intuition of space may be different in different individuals, perhaps even in different races. It would seem as if a strong naive space-intuition were an attribute pre-eminently of the Teutonic race, while the critical, purely logical sense is more fully developed in the Latin and Hebrew races. A full investigation of this subject, somewhat on the lines suggested by Francis Gallon in his researches on heredity, might be interesting.
In The Evanston Colloquium Lectures (1894), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Attribute (65)  |  Critical (73)  |  Degree (277)  |  Develop (278)  |  Developed (11)  |  Different (595)  |  Exactness (29)  |  Hebrew (10)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Individual (420)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Latin (44)  |  Line (100)  |  Logical (57)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  More (2558)  |  Preeminent (6)  |  Purely (111)  |  Race (278)  |  Research (753)  |  Sense (785)  |  Space (523)  |  Strong (182)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suggest (38)

What attracted me to immunology was that the whole thing seemed to revolve around a very simple experiment: take two different antibody molecules and compare their primary sequences. The secret of antibody diversity would emerge from that. Fortunately at the time I was sufficiently ignorant of the subject not to realise how naive I was being.
From Nobel Lecture (8 Dec 1984), collected in Tore Frängsmyr and Jan Lindsten (eds.), Nobel Lectures in Physiology Or Medicine: 1981-1990 (1993), 248.
Science quotes on:  |  Antibody (6)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Autobiography (58)  |  Being (1276)  |  Compare (76)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Different (595)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fortunately (9)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Immunology (14)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Primary (82)  |  Realisation (4)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Secret (216)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Subject (543)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Whole (756)


Carl Sagan Thumbnail 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) -- Carl Sagan
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.