--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The motives behind scientism are…" description: "\"“The motives behind scientism are culturally significant. They have been mixed, as usual: genuine curiosity in search of truth; the rage for certainty ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/jacques-barzun-3251_daily-life_the-motives-behind-scientism-are-cultura_1484043.png" --- # The motives behind scientism are culturally significant… ![“The motives behind scientism are culturally significant. They have been mixed, as usual: genuine curiosity in search of truth; the rage for certainty and for unity; and the snobbish desire to earn the label scientist when that became a high social and intellectual rank. But these efforts, even…” quote by Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/jacques-barzun-3251_daily-life_the-motives-behind-scientism-are-cultura_1484043.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/jacques-barzun-3251_daily-life_the-motives-behind-scientism-are-cultura_1484043.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/jacques-barzun-3251_daily-life_the-motives-behind-scientism-are-cultura_1484043.png) > ““The motives behind scientism are culturally significant. They have been mixed, as usual: genuine curiosity in search of truth; the rage for certainty and for unity; and the snobbish desire to earn the label scientist when that became a high social and intellectual rank. But these efforts, even though vain, have not been without harm, to the inventors and to the world at large. The "findings" have inspired policies affecting daily life that were enforced with the same absolute assurance as earlier ones based on religion. At the same time, the workers in the realm of intuition, the gifted finessers - artists, moralists, philosophers, historians, political theorists, and theologians - were either diverted from their proper task, while others were looking on them with disdain as dabblers in the suburbs of Truth.”” [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Scientism’s drive for certainty and status can marginalize intuition and creativity, leading to harmful policies and cultural bias. **In simple terms:** Scientism can suppress diverse thinking and cause harmful policies. Key Takeaway Balance rational inquiry with intuitive insight. Themes science culture authority intuition policy Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - public policy - artistic creation - ethical deliberation Key Concepts epistemology social hierarchy bias interdisciplinary dialogue Questions to Reflect On - How can we integrate intuition into scientific practice? - What safeguards prevent scientific overreach? A Different Perspective Intuition may be undervalued in heavily scientific cultures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Daily life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daily-life/) [Motives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motives/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [“The Net’s interactivity gives us powerful new tools for finding information, expressing ourselves, and conversing with others. 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They're certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/this-was-what-growing-up-was-about-hide-the-corpse-don-t-bare-your/) [Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/) > [“Maybe sometimes the motive behind people’s terrorizing acts isn’t just because of their beliefs or past or some complex and twisted logic. Sometimes their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-torres/maybe-sometimes-the-motive-behind-people-s-terrorizing-acts-isn-t/) [David Torres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-torres/) > [“how could I have been so naive before, thinking perhaps everyone had good motives, that everyone has a good side to them, even though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lotus-rose/how-could-i-have-been-so-naive-before-thinking-perhaps-everyone-had/) Lotus Rose > [Relationships, for me, have been elusive. And I would say mostly it's been my fault. I was always more concentrated on my career. 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Walker > [It is hard to work for years with pure motives, and all the time be looked upon by most of those to whom our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-livingstone/it-is-hard-to-work-for-years-with-pure-motives-and-all-the-time-be/) [David Livingstone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-livingstone/) > [Behind many acts that are thought ridiculous there lie wise and weighty motives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/behind-many-acts-that-are-thought-ridiculous-there-lie-wise-and/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [You can drive yourself crazy trying to peer into a person's soul--or you can do the sensible thing: ask not what inner motives drive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-begala/you-can-drive-yourself-crazy-trying-to-peer-into-a-person-s-soul-or/) [Paul Begala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-begala/) ## More by Jacques Barzun > [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/it-seems-a-long-time-since-the-morning-mail-could-be-called/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/teaching-is-not-a-lost-art-but-the-regard-for-it-is-a-lost-tradition/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [The reason why research is like sculpting from memory is that in neither is there a concrete visible subject to copy directly. 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Pride is active, and satisfied only with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/vanity-is-a-static-thing-it-puts-it-faith-in-what-it-has-and-is/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [By the time I was 9, I had the conviction that everybody in the world was an artist except plumbers or people who delivered groceries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/by-the-time-i-was-9-i-had-the-conviction-that-everybody-in-the-world/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [A student under my care owes his first allegiance to himself and not to my specialty; and must not be burdened with my work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/a-student-under-my-care-owes-his-first-allegiance-to-himself-and-not/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [We are accustomed to the artist scoundrel or specialist in vice, and unaccustomed to the creator in whom passion and reason and moral integrity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/we-are-accustomed-to-the-artist-scoundrel-or-specialist-in-vice-and/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [The professionals resemble and recognize each other by virtue of the stigmata that their trade has left upon them. 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Uchtdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-f-uchtdorf/) [Browse all 1,299 Daily life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daily-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The motives behind scientism are culturally significant. They have been mixed, as usual: genuine curiosity in search of truth; the rage for certainty and for unity; and the snobbish desire to earn the label scientist when that became a high social and intellectual rank. But these efforts, even though vain, have not been without harm, to the inventors and to the world at large. The \"findings\" have inspired policies affecting daily life that were enforced with the same absolute assurance as earlier ones based on religion. 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