#validity

Due to some dim but irresistible notion of the way things are, it is simply not possible, out of order, not apprpriate to the situation at hand, if, within the circle of those who are experienced and advanced in years, the young person declaims ethical generalities. Young people will again and again find themselves in a situation that is so irritating, astounding, and incomprehensible to them that their word falls on deaf ears, while the word of an older person is heard and has weight even though its content is no different at all. It will be a sign of maturity or immaturity whether this experience leads them to understand that what is at stake here is not the stubborn self-satisfaction of old age, or the anxious effort to keep youth in their place, but the pereservation or violation of an essential ethical law. Ethical discourse needs authorization, which youth are simply not able to bestow upon themselves, even if they speak out of the purest pathos of their ethical conviction. Ethical discourse does not merely depend on the correct content of what is said, but also on the speaker being authorized to say it. Its validity depends not only on what is said, but also on who says it. ↗

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#appropriateness #ethics #validity #wisdom #youth

The only relevant test of the validity of a hypothesis is comparison of prediction with experience. ↗

— Milton Friedman

#experience #hypothesis #only #prediction #relevant

Only here, because of the illusion of intellectualism, our society separates the validity of human expression. ↗

— Joseph Jarman

#expression #here #human #illusion #intellectualism

It is disturbing to discover in oneself these curious revelations of the validity of the Darwinian theory. If it is true that we have sprung from the ape, there are occasions when my own spring appears not to have been very far. ↗

— Cornelia Otis Skinner

#appears #been #curious #darwinian #darwinian theory

Who of us is able to read and understand and be entirely confident of the validity of his title to the land he lives on, and which he has redeemed from a state of nature by the most indefatigable industry and perseverance? ↗

— William H. Wharton

#confident #entirely #his #indefatigable #industry

The only rule I have found to have any validity in writing is not to bore yourself. ↗

— John Mortimer

#bore #found #i #only #rule

The motive behind criticism often determines its validity. Those who care criticize where necessary. Those who envy criticize the moment they think that they have found a weak spot. ↗

— Criss Jami

#criticism #envy #good-intentions #inspirational #intentions

I'm a Scorpio, and who knows if there is any validity to it, but I'm very emotional. I have high highs and low lows. ↗

— Chely Wright

#emotional #high #highs #i #knows

All science is experiential; but all experience must be related back to and derives its its validity from the conditions and context of consciousness in which it arises, i.e., the totality of our nature. ↗

— Wilhelm Dilthey

#back #conditions #consciousness #context #derives