"Hypothesis and Imagination" (Times Literary Supplement, 25 Oct 1963)
1960s
“Very few scientists actually plunge into the murky waters of testing or challenging borderline or pseudo-scientific beliefs. The chance of finding out something really interesting—except about human nature—seems small, and the amount of time required seems large. I believe that scientists should spend more time in discussing these issues, but the fact that a given contention lacks vigorous scientific opposition in no way implies that scientists think it is reasonable.”
Source: Broca's Brain (1979), Chapter 5, “Night Walkers and Mystery Mongers: Sense and Nonsense at the End of Science” (p. 69)
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Carl Sagan 365
American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science ed… 1934–1996Related quotes
Autobiographical essay (1994)
Context: At the present time I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists. However this is not entirely a matter of joy as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health. One aspect of this is that rationality of thought imposes a limit on a person's concept of his relation to the cosmos.
is generally a scientific one.
Source: 2010s, The Moral Landscape (2010), p. 143–144
(1994, p. 44) cited in: Leonard Brand (1997) Faith, reason, and earth history
Integrity in Science (1985)
Hurricane Katrina - an environmental 9/11?, JohannHari.com, September 3, 2005, 2007-01-26 http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=661,
Bookreview by Jim Withers, Canwest News Service, June 8 2009
1970s, Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking (1975), The Wellspring of Reality