“ Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive. ”
George Eliot, Middlemarch (1872). copy citation
| Author | George Eliot |
|---|---|
| Source | Middlemarch |
| Topic | conscience mistake science dogma |
| Date | 1872 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/145/145-h/145-h.htm |
Context
“Whereas, again and again, in his time of freedom, he had denounced the perversion of pathological doubt into moral doubt and had said—«the purest experiment in treatment may still be conscientious: my business is to take care of life, and to do the best I can think of for it. Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.» Alas! the scientific conscience had got into the debasing company of money obligation and selfish respects.
«Is there a medical man of them all in Middlemarch who would question himself as I do?»” source
«Is there a medical man of them all in Middlemarch who would question himself as I do?»” source
Meaning and analysis
