--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The entire history of science is a…" description: "\"The entire history of science is a progression of exploded fallacies.\" — Ayn Rand" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/ayn-rand-59_fallacies_the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progr_2918837.jpg" --- # The entire history of science is a progression of exploded… ![“The entire history of science is a progression of exploded fallacies.” quote by Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/ayn-rand-59_fallacies_the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progr_2918837.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/ayn-rand-59_fallacies_the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progr_2918837.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/ayn-rand-59_fallacies_the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progr_2918837.jpg) > “The entire history of science is a progression of exploded fallacies.” [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science advances by overturning false ideas, not by accumulating truths. **In simple terms:** Science progresses by breaking wrong ideas. Key Takeaway Question assumptions, seek evidence. Themes science progress critical thinking Mood inquisitive challenging Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - research - education - policy making - public discourse Key Concepts philosophy epistemology falsifiability Questions to Reflect On - What falsehoods dominate current scientific debates? - How can we encourage systematic falsification? A Different Perspective Progress can be slowed by entrenched beliefs and institutional inertia. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fallacies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallacies/) [Fallacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallacy/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History of science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-of-science/) [Progression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progression/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [As the science of economics...exploded the fallacies of every brand of utopianism, it was outlawed and stigmatized as unscientific.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/as-the-science-of-economics-exploded-the-fallacies-of-every-brand-of/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [The history of science teaches only too plainly the lesson that no single method is absolutely to be relied upon, that sources of error…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-william-strutt/the-history-of-science-teaches-only-too-plainly-the-lesson-that-no/) [John William Strutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-william-strutt/) > [The history of science is everywhere speculative. It is a marvelous hiatory. It makes you proud to be a human being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/the-history-of-science-is-everywhere-speculative-it-is-a-marvelous/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [The task of the educator is to make the child's spirit pass again where its forefathers have gone, moving rapidly through certain stages but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-poincare/the-task-of-the-educator-is-to-make-the-child-s-spirit-pass-again/) [Henri Poincare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-poincare/) > [Historians of a generation ago were often shocked by the violence with which scientists rejected the history of their own subject as irrelevant; they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-bernard-cohen/historians-of-a-generation-ago-were-often-shocked-by-the-violence/) [I. Bernard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-bernard-cohen/) > [Oddly, since by now I've written quite a lot on early modern philosophers, I didn't care for the history of philosophy, which I thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-wilson/oddly-since-by-now-i-ve-written-quite-a-lot-on-early-modern/) [Catherine Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-wilson/) > [The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/the-history-of-science-like-the-history-of-all-human-ideas-is-a-2/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [The history of science is a record of the transformations of contempts amd amusements.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-fort/the-history-of-science-is-a-record-of-the-transformations-of/) [Charles Fort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-fort/) > [The history of science should not be an instrument to defend any kind of social or philosophic theory; it should be used only for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sarton/the-history-of-science-should-not-be-an-instrument-to-defend-any-kind/) [George Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sarton/) > [If all history is only an amplification of biography, the history of science may be most instructively read in the life and work of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-geikie/if-all-history-is-only-an-amplification-of-biography-the-history-of/) Archibald Geikie > [You ask whether I am going over to the history of science... no, I am not as old as that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-kelk-ingold/you-ask-whether-i-am-going-over-to-the-history-of-science-no-i-am-not/) Christopher Kelk Ingold > [The history of science is full of revolutionary advances that required small insights that anyone might have had, but that, in fact, only one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/the-history-of-science-is-full-of-revolutionary-advances-that/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/the-history-of-science-like-the-history-of-all-human-ideas-is-a/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts for a new theory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mayr/the-history-of-science-knows-scores-of-instances-where-an/) [Ernst Mayr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mayr/) > [Great is the power of steady misrepresentation; but the history of science shows that fortunately this power does not long endure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/great-is-the-power-of-steady-misrepresentation-but-the-history-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## More by Ayn Rand > [There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-are-no-white-lies-there-is-only-the-blackest-of-destruction-and/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [She watched the prairies the rivers, the towns slipping past at an untouchable distance below - and she noted that the sense of detachment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-watched-the-prairies-the-rivers-the-towns-slipping-past-at-an/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“This was reality, she thought, this sense of clear outlines, of purpose, of lightness, of hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-was-reality-she-thought-this-sense-of-clear-outlines-of-purpose/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [A “collective” mind does not exist. It is merely the sum of endless numbers of individual minds. If we have an endless number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-collective-mind-does-not-exist-it-is-merely-the-sum-of-endless/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/lobbying-is-the-activity-of-attempting-to-influence-legislation-by/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She moved her hand and let it rest against his. He did not withdraw his fingers and he did not pretend indifference. She bent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-moved-her-hand-and-let-it-rest-against-his-he-did-not-withdraw/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-miracle-of-me-is-mine-to-own-and-keep-and-mine-to-guard-and-mine/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“There was still one response, the greatest, that she had missed. She thought: To find a feeling that would hold, as their sum, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-was-still-one-response-the-greatest-that-she-had-missed-she/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/inflation-is-not-caused-by-the-actions-of-private-citizens-but-by-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“We are fornicating in the sight of six billion people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-fornicating-in-the-sight-of-six-billion-people/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-was-fifteen-when-it-occurred-to-her-for-the-first-time-that-women/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Fransisco, you're some kind of very high nobility, aren't you?" He answered, "Not yet. The reason my family has lasted for such a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/fransisco-you-re-some-kind-of-very-high-nobility-aren-t-you-he/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/have-you-felt-it-too-have-you-seen-how-your-best-friends-love/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/every-coercive-monopoly-was-created-by-government-intervention-into/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [We are all brothers under the skin - and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-all-brothers-under-the-skin-and-i-for-one-would-be-willing-to/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Explore all 1,777 Ayn Rand quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More Fallacies quotes > [Since the time of Plato and Aristotle philosophers have had an interest in taking note of common fallacies in reasoning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randal-marlin/since-the-time-of-plato-and-aristotle-philosophers-have-had-an/) [Randal Marlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randal-marlin/) > [At least half of the popular fallacies about economics come from assuming that economic activity is a zero-sum game, in which what is gained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/at-least-half-of-the-popular-fallacies-about-economics-come-from/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“The arrow of time obscures memory of both past and future circumstance with innumerable fallacies, the least trivial of which is perception.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashim-shanker/the-arrow-of-time-obscures-memory-of-both-past-and-future/) [Ashim Shanker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashim-shanker/) > [Metaphysical fallacies contain the only clues we have to what thinking means to those who engage in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/metaphysical-fallacies-contain-the-only-clues-we-have-to-what/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/economics-is-haunted-by-more-fallacies-than-any-other-study-known-to/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) > [“Any proposition containing the word "is" creates a linguistic structural confusion which will eventually give birth to serious fallacies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/any-proposition-containing-the-word-is-creates-a-linguistic/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [If fallacies come knocking at my door,I'd rather feed, and shelter full a score,Than hide behind the black portcullis, doubt,And run the risk of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/if-fallacies-come-knocking-at-my-door-i-d-rather-feed-and-shelter/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/fallacies-do-not-cease-to-be-fallacies-because-they-become-fashions/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is a fearful mistake for us to neglect the study of the Bible to investigate theories that are misleading, diverting minds from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-g-white/it-is-a-fearful-mistake-for-us-to-neglect-the-study-of-the-bible-to/) [Ellen G. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-g-white/) > [One of the most persistent fallacies about the Christian Church is that it kept learning alive during the Dark and Middle Ages. What the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-e-knight/one-of-the-most-persistent-fallacies-about-the-christian-church-is/) [Margaret E. Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-e-knight/) > [“Death would not surprise us as often as it does, if we let go of the misbelief that newborns are less mortal than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/death-would-not-surprise-us-as-often-as-it-does-if-we-let-go-of-the/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [The most ominous of fallacies - the belief that things can be kept static by inaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freya-stark/the-most-ominous-of-fallacies-the-belief-that-things-can-be-kept/) [Freya Stark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freya-stark/) > [Leaving prices out of the picture is probably the source of more fallacies in economics than any other single misconception.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/leaving-prices-out-of-the-picture-is-probably-the-source-of-more/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“Few fallacies are more dangerous or easier to fall into than that by which, having read a given book, we assume that we will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-grudin/few-fallacies-are-more-dangerous-or-easier-to-fall-into-than-that-by/) [Robert Grudin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-grudin/) > [Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/economics-is-haunted-by-more-fallacies-than-any-other-study-known-to-2/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) [Browse all 34 Fallacies quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallacies/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The entire history of science is a progression of exploded fallacies.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ayn Rand" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progression-of-exploded-fallacies/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fallacies" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progression-of-exploded-fallacies/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/ayn-rand-59_fallacies_the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progr_2918837.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/ayn-rand-59_fallacies_the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progr_2918837.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/ayn-rand-59_fallacies_the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progr_2918837.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The entire history of science is a progression of exploded fallacies.” — Ayn Rand", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ayn Rand", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The entire history of science is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progression-of-exploded-fallacies/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-entire-history-of-science-is-a-progression-of-exploded-fallacies/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```