John Dewey Quotes

Liberalism is an attitude rather than a set of dogmas - an attitude that insists upon questioning all plausible and self-evident propositions, seeking not to reject them but to find out what evidence there is to support them rather than their possible alternatives.

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

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

The logic of validation allows us to move between the two limits of dogmatism and skepticism.

By free-thinking I mean the use of the understanding in endeavoring to find out the meaning of any proposition whatsoever, in considering the nature of the evidence for or against it, and in judging of it according to the seeming force or weakness of the evidence.

Skepticism is the first step towards truth.

I like the scientific spirit-the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine-it always keeps the way beyond open.

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

General scepticism is the live mental attitude of refusing to conclude. It is a permanent torpor of the will, renewing itself in detail towards each successive thesis that offers, and you can no more kill it off by logic than you can kill off obstinacy or practical joking.

Scientific inquiry shouldn't stop just because a reasonable explanation has apparently been found.

We seem to have trouble with [critical thinking]. And our political system doesn't help.

My investment of time, as an educator, in my judgment, is best served teaching people how to think about the world around them. Teach them how to pose a question. How to judge whether one thing is true versus another.

Be sceptical, ask questions, demand proof. Demand evidence. Don't take anything for granted. But here's the thing: When you get proof, you need to accept the proof. And we're not that good at doing that.

I'm very careful not to have ideas, because they're inaccurate.

The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.

Philosophy has to be enquiring; it can take nothing on faith, and its methods are based not on the blind acceptance of authority, but on establishing truths by reason and argument.

Be Skeptical, but learn to listen.

Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.

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.

It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.

By doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.

I don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.