If even in science there is no a way of judging a theory but by assessing the number, faith and vocal energy of its supporters, then this must be even more so in the social sciences: truth lies in power.
Interpretation
The validity of beliefs in science and social sciences often relies on the support and influence they gather, rather than objective truth.
Imre Lakatos's quote reflects on the nature of truth, suggesting that in both scientific and social domains, the strength and fervor of proponents can overshadow actual empirical verification. It implies that societal beliefs may be shaped more by power dynamics and the intensity of advocacy than by rational discourse or evidence, highlighting a critical view of how knowledge is constructed and validated.
In practice
During a debate on climate change, this quote could illustrate the role of political power in shaping public belief around scientific findings.
It would be wrong to assume that one must stay with a research programme until it has exhausted all its heuristic power, that one must not introduce a rival programme before everybody agrees that the point of degeneration has probably been reached.
No experimental result can ever kill a theory: any theory can be saved from counterinstances either by some auxiliary hypothesis or by a suitable reinterpretation of its terms.
Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime.
Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind.
It is not that we propose a theory and Nature may shout NO; rather, we propose a maze of theories, and Nature may shout INCONSISTENT.
The price paid for intellectual pacification is the sacrifice of the entire moral courage of the human mind.
It is certain that the easy and obvious philosophy will always, with the generality of mankind, have preference above the accurate.
The world will never be long without some good reason to hate the unhappy; their real faults are immediately detected; and if those are not sufficient to sink them into infamy, an individual weight of calumny will be super-added.
When the storyteller tells the truth, she reminds us that human beings are more alike than unalike... A story is what it's like to be a human being-to be knocked down and to miraculously arise. Each one of us has arisen, awakened. We do rise.
The mullahs of the Islamic world and the mullahs of the Hindu world and the mullahs of the Christian world are all on the same side. And we are against them all.
The worst evil is - and that's the product of censorship - is the self-censorship, because that twists spines, that destroys my character because I have to think something else and say something else, I have to always control myself.
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