---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And so come the cults, claiming to meet…"
description: "\"“And so come the cults, claiming to meet the needs that science has thus far failed to meet--and offering the prospective inductee a place on the groun..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_pseudoscience_and-so-come-the-cults-claiming-to-meet-t_1451342.jpg"
---

#  And so come the cults, claiming to meet the needs that…

![“And so come the cults, claiming to meet the needs that science has thus far failed to meet--and offering the prospective inductee a place on the ground floor. Some cults may be harmless enough, but whenever false doctrine is propagated there is some cost. Many such doctrines are dressed up as…” quote by Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_pseudoscience_and-so-come-the-cults-claiming-to-meet-t_1451342.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_pseudoscience_and-so-come-the-cults-claiming-to-meet-t_1451342.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_pseudoscience_and-so-come-the-cults-claiming-to-meet-t_1451342.jpg)

> ““And so come the cults, claiming to meet the needs that science has thus far failed to meet--and offering the prospective inductee a place on the ground floor. Some cults may be harmless enough, but whenever false doctrine is propagated there is some cost. Many such doctrines are dressed up as science in their own right. For even though established science may be distrusted, "science" is still a thumps-up word for most people. So we find many of these theories borrowing liberally from genuine science, and many more using terms that sound, to the uninitiated, like the stuff of which true science is made. Now many of the bogus doctrines are actually unintelligible; their seeming content simply vanishes when closely scrutinized. But given the incomprehensibility of so much genuine science for so many of us, that very unintelligibility can be mistaken as a sign of authenticity. Alas, it can even inspire reverence.””

[Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The quote warns that cults exploit scientific language to appear credible, and that people may mistake incomprehensibility for authenticity, leading to false reverence for

**In simple terms:** Cults misuse scientific jargon to seem trustworthy, confusing people who find real science hard to understand

Key Takeaway

Beware of jargon‑driven claims and demand clear evidence

Themes

critical thinking science literacy cult awareness

Mood

skeptical concerned

Type

cautionary analytical

When to use this quote

- evaluating new movements
- educational curricula
- media literacy
- public policy debates

Key Concepts

pseudoscience authority bias social influence

Questions to Reflect On

- How can we differentiate genuine science from its mimicry?
- What steps improve public scientific literacy?

A Different Perspective

The quote may overgeneralize and not all scientific language is misused; some groups genuinely seek truth

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Pseudoscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pseudoscience/) [Rationality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rationality/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/)

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