Much early alchemy seems to have been adventure. You heated and mixed and burnt and pounded and to see what would happen. An adventure might suggest an hypothesis that can subsequently be tested, but adventure is prior to theory. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
The best reaction to a paradox is to invent a genuinely new and deep idea. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
One of the things Kuhn said about normal science is that people 'expect' things to be discovered. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
Probability fractions arise from our knowledge and from our ignorance. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
One ought to begin an analysis of power from the ground up, at the level of tiny local events where battles are unwittingly enacted… — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
It is possible to argue that our present conception of revolution was staked out more securely in science than in political action. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
Why should there be the method of science? There is not just one way to build a house, or even to grow tomatoes. We… — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
Opinion is the companion of probability within the medieval epistemology. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
Risk analysis can cater to any sort of hazard, but their profession owes its existence to a relatively narrow band of possible dangers. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
It is so hard to make important decisions that we have a great urge to reduce them to rules. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
In each case you settle on an act. Doing nothing at all counts as an act. — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
I think it's unfortunate when people say that there is just one true story of science. For one thing, there are many different sciences,… — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
As a political metaphor, a revolution could, in that sense, mean only a return to better times, or to the true constitution: a ridding… — Ian Hacking Copy Share Image
