QuoteProject
Some people would claim that things like love, joy and beauty belong to a different category from science and can't be described in scientific terms, but I think they can now be explained by the theory of evolution.
Stephen Hawking
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that emotions and beauty can be understood through the lens of science, particularly evolution.

Stephen Hawking's quote emphasizes that concepts traditionally viewed as subjective, like love and beauty, can also be analyzed scientifically. He proposes that even these profound human experiences may find explanations rooted in the principles of evolution, bridging the gap between emotion and empirical understanding.

Themes

ScienceLoveEvolutionBeautyEmotions

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the intersection of science and art, this quote can illuminate how emotion can be analyzed scientifically.

More from Stephen Hawking

We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
Stephen HawkingRead
It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.
Stephen HawkingRead
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
Stephen HawkingRead
The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological-technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science. Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein: TIME's Person of the Century.
Stephen HawkingRead
In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.
Stephen HawkingRead

Similar quotes

No one pays attention to these killings, but the secret of the world is hidden in them.
Roberto BolanoRead
The same thing can be both good and bad. Whenever you speak of good, bad is also present. The world is a mixture of both. There is not good without bad. They are both sides of the same coin. Both are necessary. We have been given free will and discriminating capacity to select what is beneficial to us and to avoid what is detrimental to us. Even Cobra poison can be used as medicine.
Swami SatchidanandaRead
There have been low moments before, but Christianity is an incredibly adaptable organism, using different parts of its repertoire to mutate into new ecological niches, yet preserving intact its story of grace, of love improbably triumphant.
Francis SpuffordRead
Seek not abroad, for in the inner man dwells the truth.
Saint AugustineRead
I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn't have a god, politics, ideas, ideals.
Charles BukowskiRead
The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.
Carl SaganRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.