Tout est poison, rien n'est poison, tout est une question de dose. Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose.
Claude BernardRead
It is impossible to devise an experiment without a preconceived idea; devising an experiment, we said, is putting a question; we never conceive a question without an idea which invites an answer. I consider it, therefore, an absolute principle that experiments must always be devised in view of a preconceived idea, no matter if the idea be not very clear nor very well defined.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Experiments are based on preconceived ideas, as they stem from questions that need answers.
Claude Bernard emphasizes that the foundation of any scientific experiment is rooted in a preconceived idea or hypothesis. He contends that when we formulate questions to investigate, those questions inherently arise from existing ideas, even if they are not fully formed. This highlights the interplay between thought and inquiry in the scientific method.
Themes
ExperimentPreconceived IdeaScientific MethodInquiryHypothesis
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to emphasize the necessity of having a hypothesis in science classes.
More from Claude Bernard
All quotes →When a physician is called to a patient, he should decide on the diagnosis, then the prognosis, and then the treatment. ... Physicians must know the evolution of the disease, its duration and gravity in order to predict its course and outcome. Here statistics intervene to guide physicians, by teaching them the proportion of mortal cases, and if observation has also shown that the successful and unsuccessful cases can be recognized by certain signs, then the prognosis is more certain.
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The goal of scientific physicians in their own science ... is to reduce the indeterminate. Statistics therefore apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still indeterminate.
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Theories are like a stairway; by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
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True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
Claude BernardRead
Now, a living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine endowed with the most marvellous properties and set going by means of the most complex and delicate mechanism.
Claude BernardRead
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