Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Accepting uncertainty is a key part of rational thinking.
In plain terms
Being not absolutely sure is essential for rationality.
What can you take from it?
Rationality embraces doubt rather than certainty.

Where it applies

  • scientific research
  • decision making

Putting it to work

  • allow room for uncertainty in analysis

Questions to consider

  • How does uncertainty improve rational thought?
  • When might certainty be necessary?

Another view

Some decisions require acting despite uncertainty.

More from Bertrand Russell

  1. The worse your logic, the more interesting the consequences to which it gives rise.

    Permalink to quote #155
  2. When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others. It is much more nearly certain…

    Permalink to quote #157
  3. Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.

    Permalink to quote #154

Related quotes

  1. Many things are possible. Few things are certain.

    Harry TurtledoveHarry Turtledove quote #2
  2. I don't know what God is, or what God had in mind when the universe was set in motion. In fact, I don't know if God even exists, although I confess that I some…

    Jon KrakauerJon Krakauer quote #3
  3. [U]nlike a well-defined, precise game like Russian roulette, where the risks are visible to anyone capable of multiplying and dividing by six, one does not obs…

    Nassim Nicholas TalebNassim Nicholas Taleb quote #4