Appearance Quote by John Stuart Mill
“The process of tracing regularity in any complicated, and at first sight confused, set of appearances, is necessarily tentative; we begin by making any supposition, even a false one, to see what consequences will follow from it ; and by observing how these differ from the real phenomena, we learn what corrections to make in our assumption.”
About This Quote
Source Book: System of Logic, John Stuart Mill, 1843
We start by proposing a hypothesis, test it against reality, and adjust it when it fails.
In simple terms: Make a guess, test it, then improve.
Key Takeaway
Iterate ideas through testing.
Themes
science
method
learning
logic
philosophy
Mood
analytical
inquisitive
Type
philosophical
educational
When to use this quote
- research
- problem solving
- education
- policy making
Key Concepts
hypothesis testing
empiricism
falsifiability
Questions to Reflect On
- What assumptions are you holding that may be false?
- How can you design experiments to test them?
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