Sunday, May 17, 2009
Quotable: Proof & Adjudication
Thou canst not prove thou art immortal, no
Nor yet that thou art mortal—nay my son,
Thou canst not prove that I, who speak with thee,
Am not thyself in converse with thyself,
For nothing worthy proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven: wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,
Source: Excerpt from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Ancient Sage." Quoted in The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World by Alister McGrath (Doubleday 2004) p. 93.
... science simply cannot (by its legitimate methods) adjudicate the issue of God's possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm nor deny it; we simply can't comment on it as scientists.
Source: Excerpt from "Impeaching a Self-Appointed Judge" by Stephen Jay Gould. Quoted in McGrath, ibid., p. 109.
Nor yet that thou art mortal—nay my son,
Thou canst not prove that I, who speak with thee,
Am not thyself in converse with thyself,
For nothing worthy proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven: wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,
Source: Excerpt from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Ancient Sage." Quoted in The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World by Alister McGrath (Doubleday 2004) p. 93.
... science simply cannot (by its legitimate methods) adjudicate the issue of God's possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm nor deny it; we simply can't comment on it as scientists.
Source: Excerpt from "Impeaching a Self-Appointed Judge" by Stephen Jay Gould. Quoted in McGrath, ibid., p. 109.
Labels: poetry, quotations, religion and science
