Quote of the Millenium

Salviati: In the long run my observations have convinced me that some men, reasoning preposterously, first establish some conclusion in their minds which, either because of its being their own or because of their having received it from some person who has their entire confidence, impresses them so deeply that one finds it impossible to get it out of their heads. Such arguments in support of their fixed idea as they hit upon themselves or hear set forth by others, no matter how simple and stupid these may be, gain their instant acceptance and applause. On the other hand, whatever is brought forward against it, however ingenious and conclusive, the receive with disdain or with hot rage -- if indeed it does not make them ill. Beside themselves with passion, some of them would not be backward even about scheming to suppress and silence their adversaries. I have had some experience of this myself.

Sagredo: I know; such men do not deduce their conclusions from its premises or establish it by reason, but they accommodate (I should have said discommode and distort) the premises and reasons to a conclusion which for them is already established and nailed down. . . .

-- Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, translated by Stillman Drake.

I will have a good deal more to say about this astonishing, and lately insufficiently appreciated document, in coming weeks. Salviati is Galileo's alter ego; Sagredo is his friend who stands for the open-minded interlocutor.