… is from page 123 of Daniel Boorstin’s 1998 book, The Seekers:
The great shift in the direction of seeking [truth and understanding], which marked the opening of the modern mind, was the turn to experience.
DBx: Explanation – a theory, a ‘model,’ a story – unchecked against empirical reality is at best useless. Empirical reality unprocessed by a coherent theory is at best meaningless.