Aristotle: a Chapter from the History of Science Quotes

“George Henry Lewes”

“Experiment is an art, and demands an artist.”

“The history of Aristotle is for many centuries the history of learning.”

“The Subjective Method is co-extensive with our ignorance.”

“The same statement may be either a fact or a theory, without any change in its evidence.”

“Another conclusion reached, after some difficulty, is that Motion really exists.”

“The splendour of his fame perpetuates the memory of his failure, and to be just we must appreciate both.”

“A fact may be defined as a bundle of inferences tied together by one or more sensations.”

“In every case Science welcomes scrutiny and scepticism; its final guarantee is conformity with fact.”

“We have learned... that Rest is only Equilibrium, and that is the action of equal and opposing forces, i.e., tension.”

“Many glaring errors of the Greeks will have to be noticed... few of them can be referred to the cause assigned by Dr. Whewell.”

“Works by: George Henry Lewes at Project Gutenberg.”

“It is difficult to speak of Aristotle without exaggeration: he is felt to be so mighty, and is known to be so wrong.”

“We have to consider him [ Plato ] solely with reference to Science; an aspect, it must be confessed, in which he is seen to great disadvantage.”

“In passing from formal logic to physical inquiry, a new set of conditions is entered upon, and the test of conformity with fact becomes imperative.”

“No one who scrutinizes the science of our day can fail to perceive how ready men still are to accept phrases for explanations, and guesses for facts.”

“Even a great intellect may unsuspectingly wander into absurdities, when it quits the firm though laborious path of inductive inquiry.”

“Respect often degenerates into servility because... the admiration of the few becomes the exaggeration of the many...”

“Whenever the data and the deductions have been rigorously verified, the truths of Physics and Chemistry are as certain as those of Mathematics.”

“It is the tendency of all positive knowledge of objects gradually to displace the subjective fictions by which the blank of ignorance was at first filled up.”