Scientific Theory/descriptions of Theories

Famous quotes containing the words scientific, theory, descriptions and/or theories:

    A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.
    Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)

    Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. It is impossible to find a hygienest who does not debase his theory of the healthful with a theory of the virtuous.... The true aim of medicine is not to make men virtuous; it is to safeguard and rescue them from the consequences of their vices.
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)

    Matter-of-fact descriptions make the improbable seem real.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)

    Generalisation is necessary to the advancement of knowledge; but particularly is indispensable to the creations of the imagination. In proportion as men know more and think more they look less at individuals and more at classes. They therefore make better theories and worse poems.
    Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)