John Maynard Keynes Quotes
When the facts change, one ought to change one’s opinion.
Although this quotation has been cited by many scholars, none has yet given a primary citation. As a result a few researchers question the attribution to Keynes and argue that the first primary source of this notion was the Nobel Laureate in Economics Paul Samuelson -- Quote {645739}. However, even Samuelson attributed this quotation to Keynes although he did not do so at this particualr interview.
John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946, British Economist, Attributed by Ferguson & Kotlikoff, “Going Critical,” The National Interest, Fall 2003
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
See {627632} for an earlier advocy of change when circumstances warrant and {636175} for a modern view.
When a scientist is persuaded to change his position, he is acting in the great tradition of the best of scientists. When a politician does the same, he is a flip flopper, without any real principles and clearly not to be trusted. A scientist would not be trusted by his peers if he did not readily change is views.
He had originally said he would only serve one term as UN Secretary General. He then decided to go for another term. The press accused him of flip flopping. See {619441} and {627632} for a similar view.
In politics, a person who flip flops is suspected of not having principles. In science, a person who does not flop flop is suspected of not being scientific. As new evidence amasses, the scientific method requires that the scientist chenges. The politician is often expected to hold to his principles regardless of new or contrary evidence.
Ibn al-Nafis was one of the great scientists of all time. He analyzed the human heart, lungs, and circulatory system. This quotation is often given by Muslim modernists and reformers to illustrate that Islam at one time was open to new knowledge, dissent, ideas of all kinds. A century later, Islam closed intellectually and later and even today, Muslims are killed for what became heresy. Truth became determined by the Koran and the words of The Prophet only, Christianity and the Church imposed a similar restrictive view of truth using the Bible and Jesus. However, the Reformation and modernity led Christianity to merge and adopt the more modern and scientific view with the exception of some Christian fundamentalists. Islam had the modern view and abandoned it causing the many educated Islamic reformers and modernists of today great difficulty in changing the culture and laws as a whole.
Most politicians would never do this. Ideologues rarely analyze their beliefs. Pragmatic politicians are fearful of being called a flip flopper with no core principles. However, some politicians follow this advice. For example, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were both among the rare politicians who would frequently change positions as they learned more. See John Maynard Keynes {619441} for a personal statement of this principle and {636175} for a modern view.
- Born: June 5, 1883
- Died: April 21, 1946
- Nationality: British
- Profession: Economist
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, CB, FBA (5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in mathematics, he built on and greatly refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles. One of the most influential economists of the 20th century, he produced writings that are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, and its various offshoots. His ideas, reformulated as New Keynesianism, are fundamental to mainstream macroeconomics.
