Understanding the Present Quotes

“An adolescent act of defiance has now become a familiar form of virtue. 'Going with the flow' has become an imperative, a clear version of the good life. Chance is sentimentally evoked in popular fictions. We 'change' to move on from tragedy or difficulty, we 'change' to overcome trauma, we are frequently told to accept 'change' as some perennial fact of life, the contemplation of which brings wisdom.”
― Bryan Appleyard, Understanding the Present: An Alternative History of Science

“The whole point I am making is that a hard, irreducible sense of our own self-awareness has been progressively denied us by the inroads of science both as a form and as a creator of our society.”
― Bryan Appleyard, Understanding the Present: An Alternative History of Science

“Scientists need to be observed and criticized more than any other members of society. I say this not just because of the horrors that might emerge from their laboratories, but also because of the necessity for making them as morally and philosophically answerable as the rest of us.”
― Bryan Appleyard, Understanding the Present: An Alternative History of Science

“Science is not a neutral or innocent commodity which can be employed as a convenience by people wishing to partake only of the West's material power. Rather it is spiritually corrosive, burning away ancient authorities and traditions. It cannot really co-exist with anything.”
― Bryan Appleyard, Understanding the Present: An Alternative History of Science