Civilizations can only be understood by those who are civilized. Alfred North Whitehead More Quotes by Alfred North Whitehead More Quotes From Alfred North Whitehead Mathematics as a science, commenced when first someone, probably a Greek, proved propositions about "any" things or about "some" things, without specifications of definite particular things. Alfred North Whitehead greek math science The only use of a knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present. The present contains all that there is. It is holy ground; for it is the past, and it is the future. Alfred North Whitehead future wisdom past Religion increasingly is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life. Alfred North Whitehead degenerates life religion Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life. Alfred North Whitehead fancy symbolism life Nature, even in the act of satisfying anticipation, often provides a surprise. Alfred North Whitehead anticipation surprise nature Many a scientist has patiently designed experiments for the purpose of substantiating his belief that animal operations are motivated by no purposes. He has perhaps spent his spare time in writing articles to prove that human beings are as other animals so that 'purpose' is a category irrelevant for the explanation of their bodily activities, his own activities included. Scientists animated by the purpose of proving that they are purposeless constitute an interesting subject for study. Alfred North Whitehead writing animal interesting You may not divide the seamless coat of learning. Alfred North Whitehead divides coats may Style, in its finest sense, is the last acquirement of the educated mind; it is also the most useful. It pervades the whole being. Alfred North Whitehead style lasts mind Algebra is the intellectual instrument which has been created for rendering clear the quantitative aspects of the world. Alfred North Whitehead intellectual teaching math I am sure that one secret of a successful teacher is that he has formulated quite clearly in his mind what the pupil has got to know in precise fashion. He will then cease from half-hearted attempts to worry his pupils with memorizing a lot of irrelevant stuff of inferior importance. Alfred North Whitehead fashion teaching teacher I regret that it has been necessary for me in this lecture to administer a large dose of four-dimensional geometry. I do not apologize, because I am really not responsible for the fact that nature in its most fundamental aspect is four-dimensional. Things are what they are. Alfred North Whitehead lectures regret nature In modern times the belief that the ultimate explanation of all things was to be found in Newtonian mechanics was an adumbration of the truth that all science, as it grows towards perfection, becomes mathematical in its ideas. Alfred North Whitehead perfection math ideas Great dreamers' dreams are never fulfilled, they are always transcended. Alfred North Whitehead fulfilled dreamer dream I am also greatly indebted to Bergson, William James, and John Dewey. One of my preoccupations has been to rescue their type of thought from the charge of anti-intellectualism, which rightly or wrongly has been associated with it. Alfred North Whitehead preoccupation rescue type Nature is probably quite indifferent to the aesthetic preferences of mathematicians. Alfred North Whitehead preference mathematician indifferent The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be embalmed alive. The more prolonged the halt in some unrelieved system of order, the greater the crash of the dead society. Alfred North Whitehead change order art In the study of ideas, it is necessary to remember that insistence on hard-headed clarity issues from sentimental feeling, as it were a mist, cloaking the perplexities of fact. Insistence on clarity at all costs is based on sheer superstition as to the mode in which human intelligence functions. Our reasonings grasp at straws for premises and float on gossamers for deductions. Alfred North Whitehead issues math ideas Algebra reverses the relative importance of the factors in ordinary language. It is essentially a written language, and it endeavors to exemplify in its written structures the patterns which it is its purpose to convey. The pattern of the marks on paper is a particular instance of the pattern to be conveyed to thought. The algebraic method is our best approach to the expression of necessity, by reason of its reduction of accident to the ghostlike character of the real variable. Alfred North Whitehead real math character Thus the negative perception is the triumph of consciousness. Alfred North Whitehead triumph perception negative All practical teachers know that education is a patient process of mastery of details, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. Alfred North Whitehead mastery details teacher
