“The proof of a theory is in its reasoning, not in its sponsorship”

— Ludwig von Mises

Theory of Money and Credit http://www.econlib.org/library/Mises/msT1.html (1912)
Source: http://www.econlib.org/library/Mises/msT2.html#I.5.12 | Theory of Money and Credit

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Feb. 14, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The proof of a theory is in its reasoning, not in its sponsorship" by Ludwig von Mises?

Ludwig von Mises 62

austrian economist 1881–1973

Related quotes

“The cookbook gives a detailed description of ingredients and procedures but no proofs for its prescriptions or reasons for its recipes; the proof of the pudding is in the eating. … Mathematics cannot be tested in exactly the same manner as a pudding; if all sorts of reasoning are debarred, a course of calculus may easily become an incoherent inventory of indigestible information.”

George Pólya book How to Solve It

Source: How to Solve It (1945), p. 219

“Reason may be employed in two ways to establish a point: firstly, for the purpose of furnishing sufficient proof of some principle, as in natural science, where sufficient proof can be brought to show that the movement of the heavens is always of uniform velocity. Reason is employed in another way, not as furnishing a sufficient proof of a principle, but as confirming an already established principle, by showing the congruity of its results, as in astrology the theory of eccentrics and epicycles is considered as established, because thereby the sensible appearances of the heavenly movements can be explained; not, however, as if this proof were sufficient, forasmuch as some other theory might explain them.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

I, q. 32, art. 1, reply obj. 2
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

“Nowadays, however, we are much more aware of the fact that the best proof in the world is worth no more than its premises: every scientific theory is transitory and provisional, in wait for a better one, and accepted only as long as the experimental results conform to its predictions.”

Ivar Ekeland (1944) French mathematician

Source: The Best of All Possible Worlds (2006), Chapter 3, The Least Action Principle, p. 48.

“A quest for self-respect is proof of its lack”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

“Wide acceptance of an idea is not proof of its validity.”

Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol

Source: The Lost Symbol

“We can only hope that statisticians will return to the use of the simple, lucid reasoning of Bayes's conceptions, and accord to the likelihood theory its proper role.”

Richard von Mises (1883–1953) Austrian physicist and mathematician

Fifth Lecture, Applications in Statistics and the Theory of Errors, p. 159
Probability, Statistics And Truth - Second Revised English Edition - (1957)