
“Social science means inventing a certain brand of human we can understand.”
Source: The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 95
1790s, The Age of Reason, Part I (1794)
Context: It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences human invention; it is only the application of them that is human. Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them.
“Social science means inventing a certain brand of human we can understand.”
Source: The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 95
in Impact of Advances in science and new technologies on society http://www.here-now4u.de/eng/impact_of_advances_in_science_.htm, 1998.
Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.2 The Social Aims of Jesus, p. 91
Gerald M. Weinberg (1992) cited in: Hannes P. Lubich (1995) Towards a CSCW Framework for Scientific Cooperation in Europe. p. 7
“If you are called upon to govern humans, treat them humanely.”
Quoted in "Words of the wise: a book of Russian quotations" - 1979
“War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace with justice.”
Who Speaks for Man? (1953), p. 318.
“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense… human rights invented America.”
Presidency (1977–1981), Farewell Address (1981)
Context: America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.
Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea.
Context: I have just been talking about forces of potential destruction that mankind has developed, and how we might control them. It is equally important that we remember the beneficial forces that we have evolved over the ages, and how to hold fast to them.
One of those constructive forces is enhancement of individual human freedoms through the strengthening of democracy, and the fight against deprivation, torture, terrorism and the persecution of people throughout the world. The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language.
Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity, and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.
I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights — at home and abroad. That is both our history and our destiny.
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.
Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea. Our social and political progress has been based on one fundamental principle — the value and importance of the individual. The fundamental force that unites us is not kinship or place of origin or religious preference. The love of liberty is a common blood that flows in our American veins.
Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), The Problem of Industry, pp. 40–41