--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No matter how honest scientists think…" description: "\"No matter how honest scientists think they are, they are still influenced by various unconscious assumptions that prevent them from attaining true obje..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/196/colin-wilson-8331_assumption_no-matter-how-honest-scientists-think-th_2246490.jpg" --- # No matter how honest scientists think they are, they are… ![“No matter how honest scientists think they are, they are still influenced by various unconscious assumptions that prevent them from attaining true objectivity. Expressed in a sentence, Fort 's principle goes something like this: People with a psychological need to believe in marvels are no more…” quote by Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/196/colin-wilson-8331_assumption_no-matter-how-honest-scientists-think-th_2246490.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/196/colin-wilson-8331_assumption_no-matter-how-honest-scientists-think-th_2246490.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/196/colin-wilson-8331_assumption_no-matter-how-honest-scientists-think-th_2246490.jpg) > “No matter how honest scientists think they are, they are still influenced by various unconscious assumptions that prevent them from attaining true objectivity. Expressed in a sentence, Fort 's principle goes something like this: People with a psychological need to believe in marvels are no more prejudiced and gullible than people with a psychological need not to believe in marvels.” [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human thinking is never fully objective; hidden biases shape our beliefs even when we think we are rational. **In simple terms:** We all have unconscious biases. Key Takeaway Question your assumptions. Themes bias objectivity science Mood skeptical reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - research design - peer review - critical thinking - media consumption Key Concepts cognitive bias psychology philosophy of science Questions to Reflect On - What assumptions do you hold without evidence? - How can you test your beliefs? A Different Perspective Bias can be reinforced by social pressures and echo chambers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Fate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fate/) [Forts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forts/) [Honest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/honest/) [Objectivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objectivity/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Principles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principles/) [Psychological](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychological/) [Psychological needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychological-needs/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Scientist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientist/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [People with a psychological need to believe in marvels are no more prejudiced and gullible than people with a psychological need not to believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-fort/people-with-a-psychological-need-to-believe-in-marvels-are-no-more/) [Charles Fort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-fort/) > [Unconscious assumptions or opinions are the worst enemy of woman; they can even grow into a positively demonic passion that exasperates and disgusts men,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/unconscious-assumptions-or-opinions-are-the-worst-enemy-of-woman-they/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [Each generation criticizes the unconscious assumptions made by its parent. It may assent to them, but it brings them out in the open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/each-generation-criticizes-the-unconscious-assumptions-made-by-its/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [“Korzybski argued that language must be viewed as a map, which is useful only insofar as it is similar to the world it describes.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-o-reilly/korzybski-argued-that-language-must-be-viewed-as-a-map-which-is/) Timothy O'Reilly > [To be free of time is to be free of the psychological need of past for your identity and future for your fulfillment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/to-be-free-of-time-is-to-be-free-of-the-psychological-need-of-past/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic objects or material goods in fact seems critically dependent on our first satisfying a more important range…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/our-capacity-to-draw-happiness-from-aesthetic-objects-or-material/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Religions fulfill deep-seated psychological needs for people, and if you don't get it from a specific religious doctrine, you'll get it from the kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-cameron/religions-fulfill-deep-seated-psychological-needs-for-people-and-if/) [James Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-cameron/) > [The work all comes from a psychological need. See the images that I make... It's really a psychological need. I'm just jerked around by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-clark/the-work-all-comes-from-a-psychological-need-see-the-images-that-i/) [Larry Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-clark/) > [ Although our grammar schools are teaching a whole generation computer language to adjust to the technological needs of a Stage II \[post survival-focused\] society,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-farrell/although-our-grammar-schools-are-teaching-a-whole-generation-computer/) [Warren Farrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-farrell/) > [the psychological need to believe that others take you as seriously as you take yourself. There is nothing particularly wrong with it, as psychological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-psychological-need-to-believe-that-others-take-you-as-seriously/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [Man has sought to take from the natural world not only that which is necessary for his stability and survival, but often seeks to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i-of-constantinople/man-has-sought-to-take-from-the-natural-world-not-only-that-which-is/) [Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i-of-constantinople/) > [I'm very interested in buildings that adapt to changes in climatic conditions according to the seasons, buildings capable of responding to our physical and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-murcutt/i-m-very-interested-in-buildings-that-adapt-to-changes-in-climatic/) [Glenn Murcutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-murcutt/) > [Freud, Jung thought, had been a great discoverer of facts about the mind, but far too inclined to leave the solid ground of "critical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-gay/freud-jung-thought-had-been-a-great-discoverer-of-facts-about-the/) [Peter Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-gay/) > [Does religion fill a much needed gap? It is often said that there is a God-shaped gap in the brain which needs to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/does-religion-fill-a-much-needed-gap-it-is-often-said-that-there-is-a/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Every President reconstructs the Presidency to meet his own psychological needs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/every-president-reconstructs-the-presidency-to-meet-his-own/) [Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/) ## More by Colin Wilson > [“Man is not a 'fixed and limited animal whose nature is absolutely constant'. He changed drastically when he developed 'divided consciousness' to cope with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/man-is-not-a-fixed-and-limited-animal-whose-nature-is-absolutely/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [“As to Gurdjieff's power to renew his own energies, its essence had been understood by psychologists of the nineteenth century, decades before the age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/as-to-gurdjieff-s-power-to-renew-his-own-energies-its-essence-had/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [The mystical impulse in men is somehow a desire to possess the universe. In women, it's a desire to be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/the-mystical-impulse-in-men-is-somehow-a-desire-to-possess-the/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [The exploration of oneself is usually also an exploration of the world at large, of other writers, a process of comparison with oneself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/the-exploration-of-oneself-is-usually-also-an-exploration-of-the/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [“There is in Shaw, as in Gurdjieff and Nietzsche, a recognition of the immense effort of Will that is necessary to express even a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/there-is-in-shaw-as-in-gurdjieff-and-nietzsche-a-recognition-of-the/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [I was aggressively nonpolitical. I believed that people who make a fuss about politics do so because their heads are too empty to think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/i-was-aggressively-nonpolitical-i-believed-that-people-who-make-a/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [Christianity was an epidemic rather than a religion. It appealed to fear, hysteria and ignorance. It spread across the Western world, not because it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/christianity-was-an-epidemic-rather-than-a-religion-it-appealed-to/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [When I open my eyes in the morning, I am not confronted by a world, but by a million possible worlds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/when-i-open-my-eyes-in-the-morning-i-am-not-confronted-by-a-world-but/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [Religion, mysticism and magic all spring from the same basic 'feeling' about the universe: a sudden feeling of meaning, which human beings sometimes 'pick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/religion-mysticism-and-magic-all-spring-from-the-same-basic-feeling/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [Man is brilliant at solving problems; but solving them only makes him the victim of his own childishness and laziness. It is this recognition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/man-is-brilliant-at-solving-problems-but-solving-them-only-makes-him/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [It was Rousseau who was largely responsible for the problem by giving currency to the idea that freedom can exist without responsibility and discipline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/it-was-rousseau-who-was-largely-responsible-for-the-problem-by-giving/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [If I'd stayed on in London and carried on going to literary parties, it would have wrecked me as a writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/if-i-d-stayed-on-in-london-and-carried-on-going-to-literary-parties/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [Imagination should be used, not to escape reality but to create it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/imagination-should-be-used-not-to-escape-reality-but-to-create-it/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [If you asked me what is the basis of all my work, it's the feeling there's something basically wrong with human beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/if-you-asked-me-what-is-the-basis-of-all-my-work-it-s-the-feeling/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [The sheer volume of evidence for survival after death is so immense that to ignore it is like standing at the foot of Mount…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/the-sheer-volume-of-evidence-for-survival-after-death-is-so-immense/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) [Explore all 81 Colin Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) ## More Assumption quotes > [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. If the risk among non-smokers is taken as unity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-doll/the-risk-of-developing-carcinoma-of-the-lung-increases-steadily-as/) Richard Doll > [Fortunately, the mind is restless; when it uncovers a layer of its own deception, gives up an illusion, exposes a lie, it does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-chernin/fortunately-the-mind-is-restless-when-it-uncovers-a-layer-of-its-own/) [Kim Chernin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-chernin/) > [The possibility of saying anything about a thing rests on the assumption that it preserves its identity, or continues to be the same thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-knight/the-possibility-of-saying-anything-about-a-thing-rests-on-the/) [Frank Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-knight/) > [She spent hours drawing on her own, trying to perfect her craft. And when she got into music, she had that same diligence in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-joplin/she-spent-hours-drawing-on-her-own-trying-to-perfect-her-craft-and/) [Laura Joplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-joplin/) > [If they are, then the only ultimate truths are the particulars of concrete experience, and no postulate or general assumption is inherent in science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chauncey-wright/if-they-are-then-the-only-ultimate-truths-are-the-particulars-of/) [Chauncey Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chauncey-wright/) > [If he's - the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a - is a noble institution I would - I would strongly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/if-he-s-the-inference-is-that-somehow-he-thinks-slavery-is-a-is-a/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [Leadership, pure and simple, is the assumption of responsibility for the pursuit of excellence in group life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-selznick/leadership-pure-and-simple-is-the-assumption-of-responsibility-for/) Philip Selznick > [Humans suffer from self-centred notions as to the nature of life. Humans assume that alien life forms should conform to standards that match our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-perry/humans-suffer-from-self-centred-notions-as-to-the-nature-of-life/) [Steve Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-perry/) > [When I see a fan coming over, I can't help but make an assumption about what they want to talk about. A middle-aged American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-dormer/when-i-see-a-fan-coming-over-i-can-t-help-but-make-an-assumption/) [Natalie Dormer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-dormer/) > [The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-kuan-yew/the-bell-curve-is-a-fact-of-life-the-blacks-on-average-score-85-per/) [Lee Kuan Yew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-kuan-yew/) > [Pussy Riot have certainly changed some people's assumptions about the role of political art and the relationship between the intelligentsia and the church. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/pussy-riot-have-certainly-changed-some-people-s-assumptions-about-the/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) [Browse all 1,277 Assumption quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No matter how honest scientists think they are, they are still influenced by various unconscious assumptions that prevent them from attaining true objectivity. 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