"Science promised us truth, or at least a knowledge of such relations as our intelligence can seize: it never promised us peace or happiness. Sovereignly indifferent to our feelings, it is deaf to our lamentations. It is for us to endeavour to live with science, since nothing can bring back the illusions it has destroyed."
Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd, 1895
About Me
- CyberKitten
- I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.
5 comments:
hmm would people rather live with illusions or truth? or maybe i shouldn't ask that question...
Illusions. They're generally warmer and more comforting.
Thanks for sharing this penetrating quote that reminds us of our relative importance in the universe.
I just finished Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. It conveys an almost opposite philosophy. I will be blogging about it in a couple of weeks.
@ James: I like a good quote. I think our relative importance is.... well, quite low in the grand scheme of things!
@ Brian: I've seen the book and I look forward to your review. It'd be interesting to see what you think.
Post a Comment