Richard P. Feynman Quotes About Doubt

Quotes about: Doubt

• Our freedom to doubt was born out of a struggle against authority in the early days of science. It was a very deep and strong struggle: permit us to question - to doubt - to not be sure. I think that it is important that we do not forget this struggle and thus perhaps lose what we have gained.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Strong, Struggle, Science

  Richard P. Feynman (2011). “"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character”, p.264, W. W. Norton & Company

• Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Thinking, Doubt

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.146, Princeton University Press

• We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Thinking, Incomplete Knowledge, People

• It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress which comes from a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress which is the fruit of freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom; to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed; and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Freedom, Philosophy, Responsibility

  "The Value of Science". Public address at the National Academy of Sciences, published in "What Do You Care What Other People Think" (1988), Autumn 1955.

• Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Philosophy, Science, Technology

• When a scientist doesn't know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty - some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Ignorance, Order, Ignorant

  "The Value of Science". Richard P. Feynman's public address at the National Academy of Sciences, Autumn 1955.

• We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty.

  Richard P. Feynman

  People, Doubt, Progress

  "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out". Book by Richard P. Feynman, 1999.

• We need to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed. It's OK to say, "I don't know."

  Richard P. Feynman

  Learning, Doubt, Needs

• Another of the qualities of science is that it teaches the value of rational thought, as well as the importance of freedom of thought; the positive results that come from doubting that all the lessons are true... Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Ignorance, Doubt, Quality

• A scientist is never certain. ... We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Doubt, Progress, Rooms

• There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Discovery, Doubt

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.290, Princeton University Press

• There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Doubt, No Doubt

  Richard P. Feynman (2005). “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman”, p.61, Hachette UK

• You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things... It doesn't frighten me.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Ignorance, Knowing, Doubt

• I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Science, Opportunity, Thinking

• From a long view of the history of mankind, seen from, say, ten thousand years from now, there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade.

  Richard P. Feynman

  War, Discovery, Views

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.13, Princeton University Press

• When a scientist doesn't know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is in some doubt.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Doubt, Ignorant, Answers

  Richard P. Feynman (2011). “"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character”, p.263, W. W. Norton & Company

• Doubt is clearly a value in science. It is important to doubt and that the doubt is not a fearful thing, but a thing of great value.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Doubt, Important, Fearful

• We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress, we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Ignorance, Order, Doubt

  Richard P. Feynman (2011). “"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character”, p.263, W. W. Norton & Company

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