--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It may be that there are kernels of truth…" description: "\"“It may be that there are kernels of truth in a few of these doctrines, but their widespread acceptance betokens a lack of intellectual rigor, an absen..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/971/carl-sagan-160_evolution_it-may-be-that-there-are-kernels-of-trut_745861.jpg" --- # It may be that there are kernels of truth in a few of… ![“It may be that there are kernels of truth in a few of these doctrines, but their widespread acceptance betokens a lack of intellectual rigor, an absence of skepticism, a need to replace experiments by desires.” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/971/carl-sagan-160_evolution_it-may-be-that-there-are-kernels-of-trut_745861.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/971/carl-sagan-160_evolution_it-may-be-that-there-are-kernels-of-trut_745861.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/971/carl-sagan-160_evolution_it-may-be-that-there-are-kernels-of-trut_745861.jpg) > ““It may be that there are kernels of truth in a few of these doctrines, but their widespread acceptance betokens a lack of intellectual rigor, an absence of skepticism, a need to replace experiments by desires.”” [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Some doctrines contain kernels of truth, but their popularity often reflects a lack of rigorous thinking and skepticism, substituting desire for experiment. **In simple terms:** Popular ideas may hide weak reasoning. Key Takeaway Question assumptions, seek evidence. Themes critical thinking skepticism intellectual rigor Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - academic debate - policy making - media analysis - personal belief assessment - education curriculum Key Concepts philosophy science cognitive bias Questions to Reflect On - What evidence supports this doctrine? - How can we balance openness with skepticism? A Different Perspective Widespread acceptance can stem from social pressure rather than truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Human evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-evolution/) [Pseudoscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pseudoscience/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Skepticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/skepticism/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [I believe in kindness and niceness and lots of spiritual things, but the real intellectual rigor and quest of logic is something that I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-fry/i-believe-in-kindness-and-niceness-and-lots-of-spiritual-things-but/) [Stephen Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-fry/) > [In exceptional boardrooms, the intellectual rigor generated by a challenging question is both an accepted norm and a precursor to reaching informed decisions. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/punit-renjen/in-exceptional-boardrooms-the-intellectual-rigor-generated-by-a/) [Punit Renjen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/punit-renjen/) > [“Deep” to me connotes intellectual rigor, not fashionable obscurity or the unnecessarily academic.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-payne/deep-to-me-connotes-intellectual-rigor-not-fashionable-obscurity-or/) Alex Payne > [Jesuits encourage an intellectual rigor in a way that I like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-payne/jesuits-encourage-an-intellectual-rigor-in-a-way-that-i-like/) [Alexander Payne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-payne/) > [In basic research, intellectual rigor and sentimental freedom necessarily alternate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-vasarely/in-basic-research-intellectual-rigor-and-sentimental-freedom/) [Victor Vasarely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-vasarely/) > [“Where the craving for admiration and approval predominates, intellectual rigor cannot thrive, if it survives at all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maude-newton/where-the-craving-for-admiration-and-approval-predominates/) Maude Newton > [One of the reasons for its success is that science has a built-in, error-correcting machinery at its very heart. Some may consider this an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/one-of-the-reasons-for-its-success-is-that-science-has-a-built-in/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“The method of science, as stodgy and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-method-of-science-as-stodgy-and-grumpy-as-it-may-seem-is-far-more/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-dumbing-down-of-america-is-most-evident-in-the-slow-decay-of/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Pseudoscience is embraced, it might be argued, in exact proportion as real science is misunderstood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/pseudoscience-is-embraced-it-might-be-argued-in-exact-proportion-as/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“deluded or not, supporters of superstition and pseudoscience are human beings with real feelings, who, like the skeptics, are trying to figure out how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/deluded-or-not-supporters-of-superstition-and-pseudoscience-are-human/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-candle-flame-gutters-its-little-pool-of-light-trembles-darkness/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Science arouses a soaring sense of wonder. But so does pseudoscience. Sparse and poor popularizations of science abandon ecological niches that pseudoscience promptly fills.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-arouses-a-soaring-sense-of-wonder-but-so-does-pseudoscience/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Science thrives on errors, cutting them away one by one. False conclusions are drawn all the time, but they are drawn tentatively. Hypotheses are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/science-thrives-on-errors-cutting-them-away-one-by-one-false/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [If we teach only the findings and products of science - no matter how useful and even inspiring they may be - without communicating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/if-we-teach-only-the-findings-and-products-of-science-no-matter-how/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## More by Carl Sagan > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-prediction-of-nuclear-winter-is-drawn-not-of-course-from-any/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-suppression-of-uncomfortable-ideas-may-be-common-in-religion-or/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Telepathy’ literally means to feel at a distance, just as ‘telephone’ is to hear at a distance and ‘television’ is to see at a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/telepathy-literally-means-to-feel-at-a-distance-just-as-telephone-is/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“On the scale of worlds—to say nothing of stars or galaxies—humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/on-the-scale-of-worlds-to-say-nothing-of-stars-or-galaxies-humans-are/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. 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The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/books-permit-us-to-voyage-through-time-to-tap-the-wisdom-of-our/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-live-on-a-hunk-of-rock-and-metal-that-circles-a-humdrum-star-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [A tiny blue dot set in a sunbeam. Here it is. That's where we live. That's home. We humans are one species and this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/a-tiny-blue-dot-set-in-a-sunbeam-here-it-is-that-s-where-we-live-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Any sufficiently crisp question can be answered by a single binary digit-0 or 1, yes or no.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/any-sufficiently-crisp-question-can-be-answered-by-a-single-binary/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/humans-who-enslave-castrate-experiment-on-and-fillet-other-animals/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every star may be a sun to someone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-star-may-be-a-sun-to-someone/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) [Explore all 1,043 Carl Sagan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## More Evolution quotes > [I rap when I'm rich. I rap when I'm broke. I rap when I'm bullshit in the street. I rap about only having one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/killer-mike/i-rap-when-i-m-rich-i-rap-when-i-m-broke-i-rap-when-i-m-bullshit-in/) [Killer Mike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/killer-mike/) > [At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/at-the-deepest-level-all-living-things-that-have-ever-been-looked-at/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“A question for Christians who accept evolution: When did we gain a "soul"? Did Homo habilis have a soul? Homo ergaster? Did God only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-g-mcafee/a-question-for-christians-who-accept-evolution-when-did-we-gain-a/) [David G. McAfee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-g-mcafee/) > [If the polymer chain assumes a helicoidal conformation in the crystalline state, and if it does not contain asymmetric carbon atoms, it can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giulio-natta/if-the-polymer-chain-assumes-a-helicoidal-conformation-in-the/) Giulio Natta > [“Genetics is a science full of gods, Mr. Sanchez.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valeria-luiselli/genetics-is-a-science-full-of-gods-mr-sanchez/) [Valeria Luiselli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valeria-luiselli/) > [We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. We've done all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangechi-mutu/we-became-homo-sapiens-not-that-long-ago-from-the-scientific/) [Wangechi Mutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangechi-mutu/) > [Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-delay/guns-have-little-or-nothing-to-do-with-juvenile-violence-the-causes/) [Tom DeLay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-delay/) > [The fact -- not theory -- that evolution has occurred and the Darwinian theory as to how it occurred have become so confused in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gaylord-simpson/the-fact-not-theory-that-evolution-has-occurred-and-the-darwinian/) [George Gaylord Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gaylord-simpson/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [Evolution happens in jumps, very rapidly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-ferguson/evolution-happens-in-jumps-very-rapidly/) [Marilyn Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-ferguson/) > [The true nature of soul is right knowledge, right faith and right conduct. 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