Stephen Jay Gould Quotes about Perspective

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The facts of nature are what they are, but we can only view them through the spectacles of our mind. Our mind works largely by metaphor and comparison, not always (or often) by relentless logic. When we are caught in

The facts of nature are what they are, but we can only view them through the spectacles of our mind. Our mind works largely by metaphor and comparison, not always (or often) by relentless logic. When we are caught in conceptual traps, the best exit is often a change in metaphor not because the new guideline will be truer to nature (for neither the old nor the new metaphor lies "out there" in the woods), but because we need a shift to more fruitful perspectives, and metaphor is often the best agent of conceptual transition.

Stephen Jay Gould

Lying, Views, Perspective

Stephen Jay Gould (2010). “Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History”, p.264, W. W. Norton & Company

I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme positions lies somewhere between them. More fruitful perspectives often require that we step off the line to a site outside the dichotomy.

Stephen Jay Gould

Lying, Perspective, Alternatives

Stephen Jay Gould (1990). “Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History”, p.51, W. W. Norton & Company