Quote #10
The catastrophist constructs theories, the uniformitarian demolishes them.
More from William Whewell
- In art, truth is a means to an end; in science, it is the only end.
- It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.
- Man is the interpreter of nature, science the right interpretation.
- The system becomes more coherent as it is further extended. The elements which we require for explaining a new class of facts are already c…
- Our assent to the hypothesis implies that it is held to be true of all particular instances. That these cases belong to past or to future t…
- By speaking of space as an Idea, I intend to imply...that the apprehension of objects as existing in space, and of the relations of positio…
- According to the technical language of old writers, a thing and its qualities are described as subject and attributes; and thus a man's fac…
- Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting fo…