A Quote by W. J. T. Mitchell

I think it's very important to distinguish between objectivity - which tends to be open, flexible, skeptical of its own certainty and open to new information - and objectivism - which thinks, "No, we know it all, we've got it, so real thinking and learning can come to an end."

W. J. T. Mitchell

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Between Certainty Come Distinguish End Flexible Got Important Information Know Know It All Learning New New Information Objectivism Objectivity Open Own Real Skeptical Tends Think Thinking Thinks Very Which

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W. J. T. Mitchell
Born: March 24, 1942

What is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from the worthless ones.

Carl Sagan

I think the appropriate kind of skepticism is this: you've got to be asking questions all the time, you've also got to make sure that you're doing so in the spirit of genuinely wanting to find the answers - and that also means being open. I battle with this: I know I tend to be very skeptical and as a result, I veer towards the dismissive. But being aware of the tendency, I like to challenge my own skepticism and make sure it's not just knee-jerk. You need to be skeptical towards yourself as well. When you're only skeptical outwards you've got an unbalanced skepticism.

Julian Baggini

I think for the open-minded, I'm a lot like Luciano Pavarotti... But I don't know the technique. I'm learning. I think Pavarotti was a citizen of the world. He was very eclectic. He sang with Sting and with a lot of other pop artists, and this open-mindedness, for me, is very important.

Amaury Vassili

If you did not in your own mind distinguish between useful and erroneous information, then you were not learning at all, you were merely replacing ignorance with false belief, which was no improvement.

Orson Scott Card

I don't think I underestimated [Vladimir Putin], but I think that I underestimated the degree to which, in this new information age, it is possible for misinformation for cyber hacking and so forth to have an impact on our open societies, our open systems, to insinuate themselves into our democratic practices in ways that I think are accelerating.

Barack Obama

My advice for girls who are waiting for their Prince Charming is to be open for anything. Be open to new experiences, be open to the idea that it may take longer than you want, but if you're open to meeting new people and new adventures, then love will come along.

Lily Collins

I used to be skeptical when educators and technologists predicted that we may be entering a new era of oral culture, in which audible information will be at least as important as visible information. Now that I have adopted into my own daily life a device that makes music and spoken-word files easy to access from anywhere, I have tempered my skepticism.

Tom Peters

The most important feature of an information economy, in which information is defined as surprise, is the overthrow, not the attainment, of equilibrium. The science that we have come to know as information theory establishes the supremacy of the entrepreneur because it appreciates the powerful connection between destruction and what Schumpeter described as "creative destruction," between chaos and creativity.

George Gilder

The smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they’d already solved. They’re open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.

Jeff Bezos

I think that the U.S. does have this very much more open attitude, and I admire it very much and I think it's very important to the world. But the information and the discussion sometimes come too late, after the effective decision has been made.

E. P. Thompson

The Open Hearts design was inspired by my Mom's advice that only when you keep your heart open can you best give and receive love. My hope is that the design will become a universal symbol of keeping an open heart - open to life's new experiences, open to allow something new and beautiful to come in.

Jane Seymour

As someone who is obsessed with fashion, I personally own non-vegan materials and am very open about that. I don't think it's right to pretend to be someone you're not to get sales. People know me on a real level because of how open I am in my videos. It was a simple choice: I didn't want to exclude anyone, that wasn't fair. I wanted EVERY customer to be able to wear my art. And it's morally right. End of story.

Jeffree Star

There are several different kinds of painful feelings that we might experience, and learning to distinguish and relate to these feelings of discomfort or pain is an important part of meditation practice, because it is one of the very first things that we open to as our practice develops.

Jack Kornfield

Be flexible be nuanced. It's important to open yourself up to new opportunities and experiences and not be afraid to take risks.

Sarah Lafleur

Research is creation of knowledge which leads to new and efficient solutions for the society. Shiv Nadar University, therefore, believes in being at the forefront of research. To create new knowledge, one needs to solve open-ended problems, which basically make one think on one's own.

Shiv Nadar

I think that's always very valuable: to keep the mind open to receiving all sorts of information, which can then be used in my work, but also just as a human being.

P. J. Harvey

A Quote by W. J. T. Mitchell

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