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Theory Quotes - Page 4

To build a theory of international relations on accidents of geography and history is dangerous.

Kenneth N. Waltz (2013). “Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis”, p.107, Columbia University Press

Theory not only formulates what we know but also tells us what we want to know, that is, the questions to which an answer is needed.

Talcott Parsons (1968). “The structure of social action: a study in social theory with special reference to a group of recent European writers”

No experimental result can ever kill a theory: any theory can be saved from counterinstances either by some auxiliary hypothesis or by a suitable reinterpretation of its terms.

Imre Lakatos, John Worrall, Gregory Currie (1980). “The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: Volume 1: Philosophical Papers”, p.32, Cambridge University Press

The theory of government changes with general progress.

Ulysses Simpson Grant, John Y. Simon, Aaron M. Lisec (2000). “The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant: 1873”, p.61, SIU Press

Feminism is a theory, lesbianism is a practice.

Quoted in Sidney Abbott and Barbara Love, Sappho Was a Right-OnWoman (1972). This saying, from a 1970 speech, is usually quoted, "Feminism is the theory, lesbianism is the practice."

The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts for a new theory but simply failed to ask the right questions.

Ernst Mayr (1982). “The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance”, p.29, Harvard University Press

Theory can blind observation.

Carol GILLIGAN (2009). “In a Different Voice”, p.34, Harvard University Press

No single theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain

Paul Feyerabend (1993). “Against Method”, p.39, Verso