And what I wanted to do was, I wanted to explore problems and areas where we didn't have answers. In fact, where we didn't even know the right questions to ask.
Donald JohansonRead
It is the desire for explanations that are at once systematic and controllable by factual evidence that generates science; and it is the organization and classification of knowledge on the basis of explanatory principles that is the distinctive goal of the sciences.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that science is driven by a quest for systematic explanations backed by factual evidence.
Ernest Nagel argues that the fundamental essence of science lies in the desire to understand the world through systematic and empirical explanations. This pursuit not only requires evidence but also aims at organizing and classifying knowledge according to clear explanatory principles, underscoring the structured approach that characterizes scientific inquiry.
Themes
ScienceExplanationEvidenceKnowledgeSystematic
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the importance of science, one might quote this to emphasize the value of systematic inquiry.
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