Gavin de Beer Quotes

• The scientific method ... is nothing but the exclusion of subjective opinions as far as possible, by the devising of experiments where observation can give objective answers, yes or no, to questions whether events are causally connected.

  Gavin de Beer

  Science, Giving, Events

  Sir Gavin De Beer (1956). “Science and the humanities”

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• But science is the collection of nature's answers; the humanities the collection of men's thoughts.

  Gavin de Beer

  Nature, Science, Men

  Sir Gavin De Beer (1956). “Science and the humanities”

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• A living organism must be studied from two distinct aspects. One of these is the causal-analytic aspect which is so fruitfully applicable to ontogeny. The other is the historical descriptive aspect which is unravelling lines of phylogeny with ever-increasing precision. Each of these aspects may make suggestions concerning the possible significance of events seen under the other, but does not explain or translate them into simpler terms.

  Gavin de Beer

  Science, Two, Historical

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• What mechanism can it be that results in the production of homologous organs, the same 'patterns', in spite of their not being controlled by the same genes? I asked this question in 1938, and it has not been answered

  Gavin de Beer

  Patterns, Genes, Results

  Sir Gavin De Beer (1971). “Homology: An Unsolved Problem”

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