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No science can be more secure than the unconscious metaphysics which tacitly it presupposes.

Alfred North Whitehead

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Alfred North Whitehead
Age: 86 †
Born: 1861
Born: February 15
Died: 1947
Died: December 30
Mathematician
Philosopher
Physicist
Theologian
Writer
Ramsgate
Kent
Tacitly
Presupposes
Metaphysics
Unconscious
Secure
Science

More quotes by Alfred North Whitehead

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The theme of Cosmology, which is the basis of all religions, is the story of the dynamic effort of the World passing into everlasting unity, and of the static majesty of God's vision, accomplishing its purpose of completion by absorption of the World's multiplicity of effort.
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It is the business of the future to be dangerous.
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The consequences of a plethora of half-digested theoretical knowledge are deplorable.
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Religion increasingly is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life.
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Above all things we must be aware of what I will call 'inert ideas' - that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations.
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You cannot be wise without some basis of knowledge, but you may easily acquire knowledge and remain bare of wisdom.
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Do not teach too many subjects and what you teach, teach thoroughly.
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Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it.
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Democracy...is a society in which the unbeliever feels undisturbed and at home. If there were only a half dozen unbelievers in America, their well-being would be a test of our democracy.
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Error is the price we pay for progress.
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It belongs to the self-respect of intellect to pursue every tangle of thought to its final unravelment.
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It is the business of future to be dangerous.... The major advances in civilization are processes that all but wreck the societies in which they occur.
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There is only one subject matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations
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It must be admitted that there is a degree of instability which is inconsistent with civilization. But, on the whole, the great ages have been unstable ages.
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Every organism requires an environment of friends, partly to shield it from violent changes, and partly to supply it with its wants.
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A man really writes for an audience of about ten persons. Of course if others like it, that is clear gain. But if those ten are satisfied, he is content.
Alfred North Whitehead
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Every really new idea looks crazy at first.
Alfred North Whitehead
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Religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness.
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It is this union of passionate interest in the detailed facts with equal devotion to abstract generalisation which forms the novelty in our present society .
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To see what is general in what is particular, and what is permanent in what is transitory, is the aim of scientific thought.
Alfred North Whitehead