It Is Easy To Obtain Confirmations, Or

It Is Clear That Everybody Interested In Science Must Be Interested In World 3 Objects. A Physical Scientist, To Start With, May Be Interested Mainly In World 1 Objects--say Crystals And X-rays. But Very Soon He Must Realize How Much Depends On Our Interpretation Of The Facts, That Is, On Our Theories, And So On World 3 Objects. Similarly, A Historian Of Science, Or A Philosopher Interested In Science Must Be Largely A Student Of World 3 Objects.

We Know A Great Deal, But Our Ignorance Is Sobering And Boundless. With Each Step Forward, With Each Problem Which We Solve, We Not Only Discover New And Unsolved Problems, But We Also Discover That Where We Believed That We Were Standing On Firm And Safe Ground, All Things Are, In Truth, Insecure And In A State Of Flux.

A Rationalist Is Simply Someone For Whom It Is More Important To Learn Than To Be Proved Right; Someone Who Is Willing To Learn From Others - Not By Simply Taking Over Another's Opinions, But By Gladly Allowing Others To Criticize His Ideas And By Gladly Criticizing The Ideas Of Others

It Is Easy To Obtain Confirmations, Or Verifications, For Nearly Every Theory-if We Look For Confirmations. Confirmations Should Count Only If They Are The Result Of Risky Predictions... A Theory Which Is Not Refutable By Any Conceivable Event Is Non-scientific. Irrefutability Is Not A Virtue Of A Theory (as People Often Think) But A Vice. Every Genuine Test Of A Theory Is An Attempt To Falsify It, Or Refute It.

Serious Rational Criticism Is So Rare That It Should Be Encouraged. Being Too Ready To Defend Oneself Is More Dangerous Than Being Too Ready To Admit A Mistake.