Progress in human affairs, whether in science or in history or in society, has come mainly through the bold readiness of human beings not to confine themselves to seeking piecemeal improvements in the way things are done, but to present fundamental challenges in the name of reason to the current way of doing things and to the avowed or hidden assumptions on which it rests Edward Hallett Carr
About This Quote

In this quote, Thomas Huxley explains the progression of science and human development over time. He explains that people have to challenge what is currently accepted as true, science has to challenge theories of yesterday, and society needs to challenge what is accepted as normal. Each time there is an attempt to go against the current norm, progress has been made.

Source: What Is History?

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More Quotes By Edward Hallett Carr
  1. History is the long struggle of man, by exercise of his reason, to understand his environment and to act upon it. But the modern period has broadened the struggle in a revolutionary way. Man now seeks to understand, and act on, not only his environment,...
  2. Study the historian before you begin to study the facts.
  3. Progress in human affairs, whether in science or in history or in society, has come mainly through the bold readiness of human beings not to confine themselves to seeking piecemeal improvements in the way things are done, but to present fundamental challenges in the name...
  4. Good historians...have the future in their bones
  5. If we can widen the range of experiences beyond what we as individuals have encountered, if we can draw upon the experiences of others who've had to confront comparable situations in the past, then - although there are no guarantees - our chances of acting...
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