The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “certitude”

Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy on the Unknown, the Horizons of the Knowable, and Why the Cross-Pollination of Disciplines is the Seedbed of Truth
Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy on the Unknown, the Horizons of the Knowable, and Why the Cross-Pollination of Disciplines is the Seedbed of Truth

“What we cannot know creates the space for myth, for stories, for imagination, as much as for science… Stories are crucial in providing the material for what one day might be known. Without stories, we wouldn’t have any science at all.”

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Polish Poet and Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska on the Creative Power of Uncertainty
Polish Poet and Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska on the Creative Power of Uncertainty

“Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous ‘I don’t know.’”

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Sociological Machiavellianism: Peter Berger on Compassion and the Humanistic Antidote to Cynicism
Sociological Machiavellianism: Peter Berger on Compassion and the Humanistic Antidote to Cynicism

“Cynicism about society is not the only option besides a credulous conformity to this social aeon or a credulous looking-forward to the one that is to come.”

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The Difficult Art of Counter-Criticism: Rebecca Solnit on Celebrating Complexity, Savoring the Unquantifiable, and Defying the Urge to Simplify and Contain
The Difficult Art of Counter-Criticism: Rebecca Solnit on Celebrating Complexity, Savoring the Unquantifiable, and Defying the Urge to Simplify and Contain

“There is a kind of counter-criticism that … can liberate a work of art, to be seen fully, to remain alive, to engage in a conversation that will not ever end but will instead keep feeding the imagination.”

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Joan Didion on Learning Not to Mistake Self-Righteousness for Morality
Joan Didion on Learning Not to Mistake Self-Righteousness for Morality

“When we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something … but that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen.”

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The Nothingness of Personality: Young Borges on the Self
The Nothingness of Personality: Young Borges on the Self

“There is no whole self. It suffices to walk any distance along the inexo­rable rigidity that the mirrors of the past open to us in order to feel like out­siders, naively flustered by our own bygone days.”

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In Search of a Better World: Karl Popper on Truth vs. Certainty and the Dangers of Relativism
In Search of a Better World: Karl Popper on Truth vs. Certainty and the Dangers of Relativism

“Knowledge consists in the search for truth… It is not the search for certainty.”

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The Muse of History: Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott on Why Reconciling Our Conflicting Ancestral Pasts Is Necessary for Cultural Renewal
The Muse of History: Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott on Why Reconciling Our Conflicting Ancestral Pasts Is Necessary for Cultural Renewal

“Maturity is the assimilation of the features of every ancestor.”

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Acts That Amplify: Ann Hamilton on Art, the Creative Value of Unproductive Time, and the Power of Not Knowing
Acts That Amplify: Ann Hamilton on Art, the Creative Value of Unproductive Time, and the Power of Not Knowing

“It is the task of the artist to lead the leaders by staying at the threshold.”

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Carl Sagan on Moving Beyond Us vs. Them, Bridging Conviction with Compassion, and Meeting Ignorance with Kindness
Carl Sagan on Moving Beyond Us vs. Them, Bridging Conviction with Compassion, and Meeting Ignorance with Kindness

“In the course of looking deeply within ourselves, we may challenge notions that give comfort before the terrors of the world.”

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