A Quote by Alfred North Whitehead

The consequences of a plethora of half-digested theoretical knowledge are deplorable.

Alfred North Whitehead

Quote Topics

Consequences Deplorable Half Knowledge Theoretical

Quote Author

Alfred North Whitehead
English - Mathematician
February 15, 1861 - December 30, 1947

One advantage of exhibiting a hierarchy of systems in this way is that it gives us some idea of the present gaps in both theoretical and empirical knowledge. Adequate theoretical models extend up to about the fourth level, and not much beyond. Empirical knowledge is deficient at practically all levels.

Kenneth E. Boulding

Even if we ignore the 'non-theoretical' knowledge which we acquire through experience (such as the knowledge of what something tastes like) and concentrate on theoretical knowledge, there is no good reason to think that physics can literally give the theory of everything. Here I want to be really pedantic. Although everything may be subject to physical law, not everything can be explained or described in physical terms. Physics has literally nothing to say about society, morality and the mind, for example - but of course these are parts of 'everything'.

Tim Crane

I ain't one of those who believe that a half knowledge of a subject is useless, but it has been my experience that when a fellow has that half knowledge he finds it's the other half which would really come in handy.

George Horace Lorimer

The only knowledge that can truly orient action is knowledge that frees itself from mere human interests and is based in Ideas - in other words knowledge that has taken a theoretical attitude.

Jurgen Habermas

There's a good deal in Pound's and Eliot's poetry that stood up even though their politics were deplorable. Or Pound's very deplorable, Eliot's kind of deplorable.

Robert Hass

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not a plethora of engineers here. (Devyn) Plethora? What kind of girl word is that? (Sway)

Sherrilyn Kenyon

An immense and ever-increasing wealth of knowledge is scattered about the world today; knowledge that would probably suffice to solve all the mighty difficulties of our age, but it is dispersed and unorganized. We need a sort of mental clearing house for the mind: a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared.

H. G. Wells

It is probably safe to say that all the changes of factual knowledge which have led to the relativity theory, resulting in a very great theoretical development, are completely trivial from any point of view except their relevance to the structure of a theoretical system.

Talcott Parsons

Knowledge that is not put into practice is like food that is not digested.

Sathya Sai Baba

The transcendental knowledge of devotional service is digested by the engyme of humility.

Radhanath Swami

I think a lot of the people that stand by Donald Trump are deplorable. And the things that they say are deplorable.

Robby Mook

In order that knowledge be properly digested it must have been swallowed with a good appetite.

Anatole France

The fear of speculation, the ostensible rush from the theoretical to the practical, brings about the same shallowness in action that it does in knowledge. It is by studying a strictly theoretical philosophy that we become most acquainted with Ideas, and only Ideas provide action with vigour and ethical meaning.

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling

In mysticism, knowledge cannot be separated from a certain way of life which becomes its living manifestation. To acquire mystical knowledge means to undergo a transformation; one could even say that the knowledge is the transformation. Scientific knowledge, on the other hand, can often stay abstract and theoretical. Thus most of today’s physicists do not seem to realize the philosophical, cultural and spiritual implications of their theories.