Discussion Quotes - Page 15

• The essence of liberalism is negotiation, a cautious half measure, in the hope that the definitive dispute, the decisive bloody battle, can be transformed into a parliamentary debate and permit the decision to be suspended forever in an everlasting discussion.

  Carl Schmitt

  Essence, Decision, Forever

  Carl Schmitt (2010). “Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty”, p.63, University of Chicago Press

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• With The Myth of Achievement Tests, James J. Heckman, John Eric Humphries, and Tim Kautz have offered a wealth of insightful analysis and brought together a number of topics often treated separately to inform a comprehensive discussion of the growth, character, and impact of the GED that is truly monumental. This is a first-rate book.

  Eric A. Hanushek

  Book, Character, Impact

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• Christianity is realistic because it says that if there is no truth, there is also no hope; and there can be no truth if there is no adequate base. It is prepared to face the consequences of being proved false and say with Paul: If you find the body of Christ, the discussion is finished, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. It leaves absolutely no room for a romantic answer.

  Francis Schaeffer

  Christian, Hope, Jesus

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• Faith is not a leap in the dark; it’s the exact opposite. It’s a commitment based on evidence… It is irrational to reduce all faith to blind faith and then subject it to ridicule. That provides a very anti-intellectual and convenient way of avoiding intelligent discussion.

  John Lennox

  Commitment, Dark, Intelligent

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• The first point one has to get straight in discussions like this, is that ID is not the opposite of evolution. Rather, it is the opposite of Darwinism, which says life evolved by an utterly unguided, undirected mechanism. If god directed the process of evolution, or rigged the universe to produce complex life, then that is not Darwinism - it is intelligent design.

  Michael Behe

  Intelligent, Opposites, Design

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• I can't recall any difficulty in making the C language definition completely open - any discussion on the matter tended to mention languages whose inventors tried to keep tight control, and consequent ill fate

  Dennis Ritchie

  Fate, Definitions, Matter

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• Injection of environmental and political perspectives in midstream of the science discussion cannot help the process of inquiry. I believe that persons with relevant scientific expertise should concentrate, with pride, on cool objective analysis, providing information to the public and decision-makers when it is found, but leaving the moral implications for later common consideration, or at most for summary inferential discussion.

  James Hansen

  Believe, Pride, Perspective

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• I'm a black woman every day, and I'm not confused about that. I'm not worried about that. I don't need to have a discussion with you about how I feel as a black woman, because I don't feel disempowered as a black woman.

  Shonda Rhimes

  Inspiring, Confused, Black

  "Network TV Is Broken. So How Does Shonda Rhimes Keep Making Hits?" by Willa Paskin, www.nytimes.com. May 9, 2013.

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• "A hundred years ago, in this country, we were more comfortable with these discussions [of past lives, touching the spiritual world, collective unconsciousl] than we are today. I think part of that is that we have gotten addicted to the same serum that I'm taking, which is the belief that the answers are always going to be right there in front of us. And sometimes ya gotta take that leap."

  Mehmet Oz

  Spiritual, Country, Past

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• Maybe I should offer a good thanks to the distinguished members of the majority, the Republicans, my chairman and others, for giving us an opportunity to have a deliberative constitutional discussion that reinforces the sanctity of this nation and how well it is that we have lasted some 400 years operating under a constitution that clearly defines what is constitutional and what is not.

  Sheila Jackson Lee

  Opportunity, Years, Giving

  "Dems still don't have an ObamaCare answer for midterms" by Chris Stirewalt, www.foxnews.com. March 13, 2014.

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• When mental development is under discussion, there are many who say, 'How does movement come into it? We are talking about the mind.' And when we think of intellectual activity, we always imagine people sitting still, motionless. But mental development must be connected with movement and be dependent on it. It is vital that educational theory and practice should be informed by that idea.

  Maria Montessori

  Educational, Thinking, Talking

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• There are no separate systems. The world is a continuum. Where to draw a boundary around a system depends on the purpose of the discussion.

  Donella Meadows

  Purpose, World, Boundaries

  Donella Meadows (2008). “Thinking in Systems: A Primer”, p.97, Chelsea Green Publishing

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• Her imperturbable self-confidence (Duchesse de Maine) caused Madame de Stael to write that the Duchesse believed in herself the same way she believed in God, without explanation or discussion.

  Antonia Fraser

  Writing, Self Confidence, Maine

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• Nothing so sharpens the thought process as writing down one's arguments. Weaknesses overlooked in oral discussion become painfully obvious on the written page.

  Hyman Rickover

  Writing, Weakness, Pages

  United States. Congress. Joint Economic Committee, Hyman George Rickover (1982). “Economics of Defense Policy: Selected congressional testimony and speeches by Adm. H.G. Rickover, 1953-81”

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• Temperate, sincere, and intelligent inquiry and discussion are only to be dreaded by the advocates of error. The truth need not fear them.

  Benjamin Rush

  Intelligent, Errors, Needs

  "Provisions of the Last Will and Testament of Dr. James Rush". 1869.

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• A Colombia without coca and without conflict was an impossible dream just a few years or decades ago, and today I can tell you it is a real possibility. Just imagine it. We have already begun discussion of the last two substantive points: victims and the end of the conflict.

  Juan Manuel Santos

  Dream, Real, Years

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• I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we’d known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later—or not at all. The discussion about human evolution might not revolve as much around violence, warfare and male dominance, but rather around sexuality, empathy, caring and cooperation. What a different intellectual landscape we would occupy!

  Frans de Waal

  Caring, Empathy, Intellectual

  Frans de Waal (2006). “Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are”, p.41, Penguin

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• The Burgess Shale is not unique, but for those who study evolution and fossils it has become something of an icon. It provides a reference point and a benchmark, a point of common discussion and an issue of universal scientific interest.

  Simon Conway Morris

  Unique, Icons, Issues

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• While self-interest arising from the enjoyment of meat eating is obviously one reason for its entrenchment, and inertia another, a process of language usage engulfs discussions about meat by constructing the discourse in such a way that these issues need never be addressed. Language distances us from the reality of meat eating, thus reinforcing the symbolic meaning of meat eating, a symbolic meaning that is intrinsically patriarchal and male-oriented. Meat becomes a symbol for what is not seen but is always there--patriarchal control of animals and of language.

  Carol J. Adams

  Distance, Reality, Animal

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• What may begin as a temporary method to circumvent reasoned discussion and debate for the sake of a prized political goal may very well end up permanently undermining the trust required for its existence.

  Jason Stanley

  Goal, Political, Sake

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• In most societies birth has been an experience in whichwomen draw together to help each other and reinforce bonds in the community. Now that eradication of pain with effective anesthesia is often the only issue in any discussion of birththe sacramental and social elements which used to be central to women's experience of birthseem, for an increasing proportion of women, to be completely irrelevant.

  Sheila Kitzinger

  Pain, Issues, Community

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• Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas.

  Henry Thomas Buckle

  Men, Average, Order

  "Haud Immemor: Reminiscences of Legal and Social Life in Edinburgh and London, 1850-1900". Book by Charles Stewart, p. 33, 1901.

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• It is extremely important that individuals in the state of California do not own assault weapons. I mean that is just so crystal clear, there is no debate, no discussion.

  Leland Yee

  Mean, Assault Weapons, California

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• But what I'm very interested in, whether it's writing, whether it's hosting a show, whether it's cooking food, I'm just into the discussions of identity, culture and the politics of culture.

  Eddie Huang

  Writing, Cooking, Identity

  "Q & A With Eddie Huang + Watch Episode 2 and 3 of Fresh Off The Boat L.A. Installment". Interview with Besha Rodell, www.laweekly.com. December 18, 2012.

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• The best society, the best human existence, arrives when humans most closely determine the truth, and act on the truth, and separate it from superstition, falsity, or misinformation. And there is no better system for determining the truth than free speech: Testing the validity of an idea in the waters of public discussion and debate.

  Dave Rodgers

  Truth, Ideas, Water

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