Quotation of the Day…

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… is from page 157 of Morris R. Cohen’s profound and wise 1944 book, A Preface to Logic:

[Francis] Bacon’s view rests on the assumption that the observation of facts is a simple process of mere recording. Actually, however, the determination of what the facts are is the end rather than the beginning of enquiry. Every enquirer must begin not with a tabula rasa for the recording of fresh facts, but with a fund of information. Discoveries in nature are not made by those who follow Bacon’s precept and rid themselves of all anticipations of nature. The man who knows nothing about the subject may be free from all bias but he will not discover anything. The facts of nature do not stream into empty minds.