Nelson Goodman Quotes

7 Sourced Quotes

Truth cannot be defined or tested by agreement with 'the world'; for not only do truths differ for different worlds but the nature of agreement between a world apart from it is notoriously nebulous.

Nelson Goodman
I am concerned, rather, that there should not be more things dreamt of in my philosophy than there actually are in heaven and earth.

Nelson Goodman
Rules and particular inferences alike are justified by being brought into agreement with each other. A rule is amended if it yields an inference we are unwilling to accept; an inference is rejected if it violates a rule we are unwilling to amend.

Nelson Goodman
An answer, once found, is dull; and the only remaining interest lies in a further effort to render equally dull what is still obscure enough to be intriguing.

Nelson Goodman
All scientific activity amounts to the invention of and the choice among systems of hypotheses. One of the primary considerations guiding this process is that of simplicity. Nothing could be much more mistaken than the traditional idea that we first seek a true system and then, for the sake of elegance alone, seek a simple one.

Nelson Goodman
What intrigues us as a problem, and what will satisfy us as a solution, will depend upon the line we draw between what is already clear and what needs to be clarified.

Nelson Goodman
If we are ready to tolerate everything as understood, there is nothing left to explain; while if we sourly refuse to take anything, even tentatively, as clear, no explanation can be given.

Nelson Goodman