--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But it is certainly not possible to…" description: "\"But it is certainly not possible to insist on one hand that the formalism is complete and to insist on the other hand that its application to 'the actu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/karl-popper-2167_application_but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insi_937967.jpg" --- # But it is certainly not possible to insist on one hand… ![“But it is certainly not possible to insist on one hand that the formalism is complete and to insist on the other hand that its application to 'the actual' actually demands a step which cannot be derived from it.” quote by Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/karl-popper-2167_application_but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insi_937967.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/karl-popper-2167_application_but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insi_937967.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/karl-popper-2167_application_but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insi_937967.jpg) > “But it is certainly not possible to insist on one hand that the formalism is complete and to insist on the other hand that its application to 'the actual' actually demands a step which cannot be derived from it.” [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Formal systems can’t fully explain real‑world applications without extra steps. **In simple terms:** Formalism alone can’t cover reality. Key Takeaway Recognize limits of pure theory. Themes philosophy science methodology Mood critical thoughtful Type philosophical academic When to use this quote - scientific research - policy making - engineering design Key Concepts epistemology theory vs practice Questions to Reflect On - How do we bridge theory and practice? - What extra steps are needed for real applications? A Different Perspective Practical constraints may demand empirical data. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Application](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/application/) [Certainly Possible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certainly-possible-1579819/) [Demand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demand/) [Formalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/formalism/) [Formalism Complete](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/formalism-complete-1579818/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Mechanic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mechanic/) [Possible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possible/) [Possible Insist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possible-insist-1579817/) [Quantum mechanics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quantum-mechanics/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Steps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/steps/) ## Related quotes > [Nature allows only experimental situations to occur which can be described within the framework of the formalism of quantum mechanics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-heisenberg/nature-allows-only-experimental-situations-to-occur-which-can-be/) [Werner Heisenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-heisenberg/) > [But some of these theories are so bold that they can clash with reality: they are the testable theories of science. And when they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/but-some-of-these-theories-are-so-bold-that-they-can-clash-with/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [Is the world ruled by strict laws or not? This question I regard as metaphysical. The laws we find are always hypotheses; which means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/is-the-world-ruled-by-strict-laws-or-not-this-question-i-regard-as/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [It is certainly possible that someone who has had contact with this patient could develop Ebola, but there is no doubt in my mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-frieden/it-is-certainly-possible-that-someone-who-has-had-contact-with-this/) [Tom Frieden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-frieden/) > [It certainly is possible to construct a moon base in such a way that crews could stay for extended periods of time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-duke/it-certainly-is-possible-to-construct-a-moon-base-in-such-a-way-that/) [Charles Duke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-duke/) > [It is certainly possible that the Greek economy can revive and achieve some growth over the years ahead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dallara/it-is-certainly-possible-that-the-greek-economy-can-revive-and/) [Charles Dallara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dallara/) > [One can only know as much as one has lived to know, though it is certainly possible to learn a great deal less than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saladin-ahmed/one-can-only-know-as-much-as-one-has-lived-to-know-though-it-is/) [Saladin Ahmed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saladin-ahmed/) > [What're quantum mechanics?" "I don't know. People who repair quantums, I suppose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/what-re-quantum-mechanics-i-don-t-know-people-who-repair-quantums-i/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [ Anybody who is not shocked by this subject has failed to understand it. \[of quantum mechanics\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niels-bohr/anybody-who-is-not-shocked-by-this-subject-has-failed-to-understand/) [Niels Bohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niels-bohr/) > [ It was about three o'clock at night when the final result of the calculation \[which gave birth to quantum mechanics\] lay before me ...… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-heisenberg/it-was-about-three-o-clock-at-night-when-the-final-result-of-the/) [Werner Heisenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-heisenberg/) > [Anyone not shocked by quantum mechanics has not yet understood it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niels-bohr/anyone-not-shocked-by-quantum-mechanics-has-not-yet-understood-it/) [Niels Bohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niels-bohr/) > [Yes, I am a quantum mechanic! Those darn quantum computers break all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-lloyd/yes-i-am-a-quantum-mechanic-those-darn-quantum-computers-break-all/) [Seth Lloyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-lloyd/) > [I liked quantum mechanics very much. The subject was hard to understand but easy to apply to a large number of interesting problems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-lamb/i-liked-quantum-mechanics-very-much-the-subject-was-hard-to/) [Willis Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-lamb/) > [String theory is the most developed theory with the capacity to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics in a consistent manner. I do believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-greene/string-theory-is-the-most-developed-theory-with-the-capacity-to-unite/) [Brian Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-greene/) > [A popular feel for scientific endeavors should, if possible, be restored given the needs of the twenty-first century. This does not mean that every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-isaacson/a-popular-feel-for-scientific-endeavors-should-if-possible-be/) [Walter Isaacson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-isaacson/) ## More by Karl Popper > [Science is not a system of certain, or -established, statements; nor is it a system which steadily advances towards a state of finality... And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/science-is-not-a-system-of-certain-or-established-statements-nor-is/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [“As indicated by our example, methodological nominalism is nowadays fairly generally accepted in the natural sciences. The problems of the social sciences, on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/as-indicated-by-our-example-methodological-nominalism-is-nowadays/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [Science is perhaps the only human activity in which errors are systematically criticized and, in time, corrected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/science-is-perhaps-the-only-human-activity-in-which-errors-are/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [A system is empirical or scientific only if it is capable of being tested by experience. These considerations suggest that not the verifiability but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/a-system-is-empirical-or-scientific-only-if-it-is-capable-of-being/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [Bold ideas, unjustified anticipations, and speculative thought, are our only means for interpreting nature: our only organon, our only instrument, for grasping her. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/bold-ideas-unjustified-anticipations-and-speculative-thought-are-our/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [ \[The aim of science is\] to explain what so far has taken to be an explicans, such as a law of nature. The task… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/the-aim-of-science-is-to-explain-what-so-far-has-taken-to-be-an/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [There can be no ultimate statements science: there can be no statements in science which can not be tested, and therefore none which cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/there-can-be-no-ultimate-statements-science-there-can-be-no/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [Evolution is not a fact. Evolution doesn't even qualify as a theory or as a hypothesis. It is a metaphysical research program, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/evolution-is-not-a-fact-evolution-doesn-t-even-qualify-as-a-theory-or/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [I am opposed to looking upon logic as a kind of game. ... One might think that it is a matter of choice or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/i-am-opposed-to-looking-upon-logic-as-a-kind-of-game-one-might-think/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [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/) > [Good tests kill flawed theories; we remain alive to guess again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/good-tests-kill-flawed-theories-we-remain-alive-to-guess-again/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [There is no pure, disinterested, theory-free observation,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/there-is-no-pure-disinterested-theory-free-observation/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [We have the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should tolerate even them whenever we can do so without running a great risk;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/we-have-the-right-not-to-tolerate-the-intolerant-we-should-tolerate/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [Better our hypotheses die for our errors than ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/better-our-hypotheses-die-for-our-errors-than-ourselves/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [“Every time we proceed to explain some conjectural law or theory by a new conjectural theory of a higher degree of universality, we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/every-time-we-proceed-to-explain-some-conjectural-law-or-theory-by-a/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) [Explore all 181 Karl Popper quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) ## More Application quotes > [For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/for-successful-education-there-must-always-be-a-certain-freshness-in/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikram-sarabhai/but-we-are-convinced-that-if-we-are-to-play-a-meaningful-role/) [Vikram Sarabhai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikram-sarabhai/) > [Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/technology-means-the-systematic-application-of-scientific-or-other/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [I've been in real estate for a long time and I always try to stay on the edge. I'm really excited about the partnership…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mc-hammer/i-ve-been-in-real-estate-for-a-long-time-and-i-always-try-to-stay-on/) [MC Hammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mc-hammer/) > [If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/if-we-blow-ourselves-up-we-will-do-it-by-misapplication-of-science-if/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [“...why don't you take a picture of yourself next to a fucking job application? How about that?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-wolf/why-don-t-you-take-a-picture-of-yourself-next-to-a-fucking-job/) [Josh Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-wolf/) > [Everything for us is a system. We don't think about it discretely as just as a piece of hardware, or discretely as an application...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hosain-rahman/everything-for-us-is-a-system-we-don-t-think-about-it-discretely-as/) [Hosain Rahman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hosain-rahman/) > [To each eye, perhaps, the outlines of a great civilization present a different picture. In the wide ocean upon which we venture, the possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/to-each-eye-perhaps-the-outlines-of-a-great-civilization-present-a/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [Without application of the mind; there is no drive for taking affirmative action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mercado/without-application-of-the-mind-there-is-no-drive-for-taking/) [Joseph Mercado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mercado/) > [“Having no applicable skills, in any possible area whatsoever, effectively makes me the master of redundancy. But that info is obsolete, like my insults…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-advise/having-no-applicable-skills-in-any-possible-area-whatsoever/) [Will Advise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-advise/) > [At every juncture, advanced tools have been the key to a new wave of applications, and each wave of applications has been key to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/at-every-juncture-advanced-tools-have-been-the-key-to-a-new-wave-of/) [Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/) > [The effect of the discovery of printing was evident in the savage religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Application of power to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-innis/the-effect-of-the-discovery-of-printing-was-evident-in-the-savage/) [Harold Innis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-innis/) > [As science is more and more subject to grave misuse as well as to use for human benefit it has also become the scientist's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-science-is-more-and-more-subject-to-grave-misuse-as-well-as-to-use/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If you ask ... the man in the street ... the human significance of mathematics, the answer of the world will be, that mathematics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassius-jackson-keyser/if-you-ask-the-man-in-the-street-the-human-significance-of/) [Cassius Jackson Keyser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassius-jackson-keyser/) > [Technology, and applications of this technology, will continue to improve and evolve, providing unprecedented, global access to information, individuals, training, and opportunities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-webb/technology-and-applications-of-this-technology-will-continue-to/) [Maynard Webb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-webb/) [Browse all 918 Application quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/application/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But it is certainly not possible to insist on one hand that the formalism is complete and to insist on the other hand that its application to 'the actual' actually demands a step which cannot be derived from it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Karl Popper" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insist-on-one-hand-that-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Application" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insist-on-one-hand-that-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/karl-popper-2167_application_but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insi_937967.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/karl-popper-2167_application_but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insi_937967.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c69/karl-popper-2167_application_but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insi_937967.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But it is certainly not possible to insist on one hand that the formalism is complete and to insist on the…” — Karl Popper", "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": "Karl Popper", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "But it is certainly not possible...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insist-on-one-hand-that-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/but-it-is-certainly-not-possible-to-insist-on-one-hand-that-the/#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 } } ] } ```