We are caught up in a paradox, one which might be called the paradox of conceptualization. The proper concepts are needed to formulate a good theory,… - Abraham Kaplan

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We are caught up in a paradox, one which might be called the paradox of conceptualization. The proper concepts are needed to formulate a good theory, but we need a good theory to arrive at the proper concepts.

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About Abraham Kaplan

Abraham Kaplan (June 11, 1918 – June 19, 1993) was a U.S. philosopher, known best for being the first philosopher to systematically examine the behavioral sciences in his book "The Conduct of Inquiry" (1964).

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The goal of moksha, of emancipation, though individual in form (like the Western quest for personal salvation), is thoroughly social in content. In a way, it goes beyond even the prevailing Western conception of moving from egoism to altruism. For the goal is not unselfishness but selflessness—a movement not from self to other, but from self to Self, in which there is no other.

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In addition to the social pressures from the scientific community there is also at work a very human trait of individual scientist. I call it the law of the instrument, and it may be formulated as follows: Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding. It comes as no particular surprise to discover that a scientist formulates problems in a way which requires for their solution just those techniques in which he himself is especially skilled.

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