It has often and confidently been asserted, that man's origin can never be known: Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Darwin warns that ignorance often leads to confidence, and those who know little are most certain that problems are unsolvable.
- In plain terms
- People who know less are often more confident that science cannot solve problems.
- What can you take from it?
- True knowledge leads to humility, while ignorance breeds overconfidence.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do we balance confidence and doubt?
- What marks true expertise?
Another view
Sometimes problems are genuinely unsolvable with current methods, not just unknown.
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