Morris Raphael Cohen Quotes

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.

Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.

Science is a method, not a religion, yet it can be just as close-minded. Open minds here Claire. Always open minds. Question everything, accept nothing as fact until you prove it for yourself.

I think the appropriate kind of skepticism is this: you've got to be asking questions all the time, you've also got to make sure that you're doing so in the spirit of genuinely wanting to find the answers - and that also means being open. I battle with this: I know I tend to be very skeptical and as a result, I veer towards the dismissive. But being aware of the tendency, I like to challenge my own skepticism and make sure it's not just knee-jerk. You need to be skeptical towards yourself as well. When you're only skeptical outwards you've got an unbalanced skepticism.

Skepticism is not a position; skepticism is an approach to claims, in the same way that science is not a subject but a method.

The most important factor in the training of good mental habits consists in acquiring the attitude of suspended conclusion, and in mastering the various methods of searching for new materials to corroborate or to refute the first suggestions that occur.

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry.

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

The skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found.

The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.

True science teaches, above all, to doubt

Constant and frequent questioning is the first key to wisdom … For through doubting we are led to inquire, and by inquiry we perceive the truth.

My only weapon is the question.

I believe that people should be able to question things.

In philosophy you're never 100% sure. You're always undermining what you think you know. That's always been my philosophy and my intellectual ethos.

If children were taught to question and think through their beliefs, instead of being taught the superior virtue of faith without question, it is a good bet that there would be no suicide bombers.

I think you need to have a healthy sense of doubt because I think doubt leads to inquiry.

One special advantage of the skeptical attitude of mind is that a man is never vexed to find that after all he has been in the wrong.

We must strive for literacy and education that teach us to never quit questioning and probing at the assumptions of the day.

Explore, and explore. Be neither chided nor flattered out of your position of perpetual inquiry. Neither dogmatize or accept another's dogmatism.

Doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking.

Thou shalt not take anything on faith

Basically, the Buddhist attitude is that you should not accept certain things through sheer faith. And for that you need a skeptical attitude. Buddha himself made this clear to his followers. He said you should not accept those things I taught out of respect for me, but rather through investigation by yourself.

Follow the evidence wherever it leads, and question everything.