“The art of discovery is confused with the logic of proof and an artificial simplification of the deeper movements of thought results. We forget that we invent by intuition though we prove by logic.”

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The art of discovery is confused with the logic of proof and an artificial simplification of the deeper movements of th…" by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan?
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan photo
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 84
Indian philosopher and statesman who was the first Vice Pre… 1888–1975

Related quotes

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan photo

“We invent by intuition, though we prove by logic.”

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) Indian philosopher and statesman who was the first Vice President and the second President of India

Eminent Indians (1947)

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan photo

“The presentation of facts in logical form contributes to a confusion between discovery and proof.”

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) Indian philosopher and statesman who was the first Vice President and the second President of India

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Context: The presentation of facts in logical form contributes to a confusion between discovery and proof. If the process of discovery were mere synthesis, any mechanical manipulator of prior partial concepts would have reached the insight and it would not have taken a genius to arrive at it.

Henri Poincaré photo

“It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover. To know how to criticize is good, to know how to create is better.”

C'est par la logique qu'on démontre, c'est par l'intuition qu'on invente.
Part II. Ch. 2 : Mathematical Definitions and Education, p. 129
Science and Method (1908)

Albert Einstein photo

“Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

From his "Autobiographische Skizze" (18 April 1955), original German version here http://philoscience.unibe.ch/documents/kursarchiv/WS99/Skizze.pdf. Translation from Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein by Abraham Pais (1982), p. 131 http://books.google.com/books?id=U2mO4nUunuwC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA131#v=onepage&q&f=false. Pais notes that when he said "during that year", he was referring to some time between October 1895 and early fall 1896.
Variant: "Innovation is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure."
Original German version: Während dieses Jahres in Aarau kam mir die Frage: Wenn man einer Lichtwelle mit Lichtgeschwindigkeit nachläuft, so würde man ein zeitunabhängiges Wellenfeld vor sich haben. So etwas scheint es aber doch nicht zu geben! Dies war das erste kindliche Gedanken-Experiment, das mit der speziellen Relativitätstheorie zu tun hat. Das Erfinden ist kein Werk des logischen Denkens, wenn auch das Endprodukt an die logische Gestalt gebunden ist. ("Autobiographische Skizze", p. 10)
1950s
Context: During that year in Aarau the question came to me: If one runs after a light wave with [a velocity equal to the] light velocity, then one would encounter a time-independent wavefield. However, something like that does not seem to exist! This was the first juvenile thought experiment which has to do with the special theory of relativity. Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure.

Thomas Kuhn photo
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad photo

“We are confident that the Islamic logic, culture, and discourse can prove their superiority in all fields over all schools of thought and theories.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956) 6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Ahmadinejad on His Proposal for a Jewish State in Europe and on Iran's Nuclear Energy http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=987 Jan. 2006.
2006

“That’s what logic says. But I say, phooey, who wants logic? Not you, and not me. We want results.”

Source: The Heritage Universe, Summertide (1990), Chapter 13, “Summertide Minus Ten” (p. 150)

Manuel Castells photo

“By social movements we mean a certain type of organisation of social practices, the logic of whose development contradicts the institutionally dominant social logic”

Manuel Castells (1942) Spanish sociologist (b.1942)

Source: Urban renewal and social conflict in Paris, 1972, p. 93

Donald A. Norman photo
Gottlob Frege photo

Related topics