“On balance, the cartesian metaphor of organism as machine has proved to be a good idea. Ideas do not have to be correct in order to be good; its only necessary that, if they do fail, they do so in an interesting way.”
R. Rosen Life, p. 248, quoted in: Carl F Gethmann (2011) Lebenswelt und Wissenschaft. p. 139
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Robert Rosen 8
American theoretical biologist 1934–1998Related quotes
Eryximachus to Phaedrus, p. 43
L'Âme et la danse (1921)
2010s, American Contempt for Liberty (2015)
“Some people have no idea what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.”
Cook, Gareth (interviewer), "The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance," Scientific American, January 24, 2012.
“Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine.”
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
“Note to self: It's a good idea to ask, 'What am I not doing?”
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers (2014)
“Do you have ideas, or do ideas have you?”
Preface to The Right To Be Greedy (1983 edition)
Context: Egoism in its narrowest sense is a tautology, not a tactic. Adolescents of all ages who triumphantly trumpet that "everyone is selfish," as if they’d made a factual discovery about the world, only show that they literally don’t know what they’re talking about. Practical egoism must be something more, it must tell the egoist something useful about himself and other selves which will make a difference in his life (and, as it happens, theirs). My want, needs, desires, whims — call them what you will — extend the ego, which is my-self purposively acting, out where the other selves await me. If I deal with them, as the economists say, "at arm’s length," I can’t get as close as I need to for so much of what I want. At any rate, no "spook," no ideology is going to get in my way. Do you have ideas, or do ideas have you?
