“We are content to accept without testing any belief that fits in with our prejudices and whose truth is necessary for the satisfaction of our desires.”

— Susan Stebbing

As quoted in Thinking to Some Purpose (1939), p. 204

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Susan Stebbing 9

British philosopher 1885–1943

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If we thus admit that there is no authority beyond the reach of criticism to be found within the whole province of our knowledge, however far we may have penetrated into the unknown, then we can retain, without risk of dogmatism, the idea that truth itself is beyond all human authority. Indeed, we are not only able to retain this idea, we must retain it. For without it there can be no objective standards of scientific inquiry, no criticism of our conjectured solutions, no groping for the unknown, and no quest for knowledge.
Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963)