[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fiV3wwbqDoKvIg0obZZp2PXO0WrpivuxCa6Wsjs5xzsw":3,"$f-VOseUNNpuft3FtaO31Xz2eyHyHlEcLuy00ILf5Tc9Y":16},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"bio_jsonld":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},59809,"Louis Menand","L",81,null,"louis-menand",[12],{"tag_id":13,"tag_name":14,"tag_count":15},56,"thinking",12,{"quotes":17,"pagination":81},[18,26,32,38,44,50,57,63,69,75],{"id":19,"quote_text":20,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":23,"source":24,"quote_tag":25,"commentary":9},3235638,"Of course civilizations are aggressive, Holmes says, but when they take up arms in order to impose their conception of civility on others, they sacrifice their moral advantage. Organized violence, at bottom, is just another form of oppression.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":27,"quote_text":28,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":29,"source":30,"quote_tag":31,"commentary":9},3235636,"Darwin’s ideas are devices for generating data. Darwin’s theory opens possibilities for inquiry; Agassiz’s closes them.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":33,"quote_text":34,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":35,"source":36,"quote_tag":37,"commentary":9},3235634,"We permit free expression because we need the resources of the whole group to get us the ideas we need.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":39,"quote_text":40,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":41,"source":42,"quote_tag":43,"commentary":9},3235631,"One of the good things about the profession of being a professor, is that you also have time to do what interests you and what you care about or what you’re good at.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":45,"quote_text":46,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":47,"source":48,"quote_tag":49,"commentary":9},3235629,"If behaving as though we had free will or God exists gets us results we want, we will not only come to believe those things; they will be, pragmatically, true.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":51,"quote_text":52,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":53,"source":54,"quote_tag":55,"commentary":56},3235626,"The broader appeal of statistics lay in the idea of an order beneath apparent randomness. Individuals – molecules or humans – might act unpredictably, but statistics seemed to show that in the aggregate their behavior conformed to stable laws.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nThis quote is likely from Louis Menand's book \"The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America,\" which explores the intersection of philosophy and politics in 19th-century America. Menand's work delves into the lives of influential thinkers, including Charles Sanders Peirce, who is often associated with the development of statistics and the concept of order beneath apparent randomness. During this era, the Industrial Revolution was transforming the way people thought about complexity and predictability.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nThe hidden insight in this quote lies in the tension between individual unpredictability and collective conformity. On one hand, the author acknowledges that individuals can behave unpredictably, much like molecules in a gas. On the other hand, statistics reveal a stable order beneath the surface, suggesting that even chaotic systems can be governed by underlying laws. This paradox highlights the complex relationship between randomness and order, and how our understanding of the world can shift depending on the scale at which we observe it.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this mindset in your own life, consider the ways in which individual variability can be reconciled with collective patterns. In your professional or creative pursuits, look for the underlying structures and laws that govern seemingly chaotic systems. By doing so, you may uncover new insights and strategies for navigating complex problems and making sense of the world around you.",{"id":58,"quote_text":59,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":60,"source":61,"quote_tag":62,"commentary":9},3235623,"I don’t think that taste should be the decider of moral issues.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":64,"quote_text":65,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":66,"source":67,"quote_tag":68,"commentary":9},3235622,"I think that the idea that there’s such a thing as a national literature that’s somehow uniquely expressive of a national soul or culture or mentality is probably also something that nobody really believes in anymore.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":70,"quote_text":71,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":72,"source":73,"quote_tag":74,"commentary":9},3235620,"You have to have students wanting to take the courses, otherwise you’re not going, they’re not going to be very effective.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":76,"quote_text":77,"author_id":5,"source_id":21,"has_image":22,"author":78,"source":79,"quote_tag":80,"commentary":9},3235618,"For the kind of places I’ve written for and the kind of writing that I’ve done, the general way to think about your audience is to think about somebody who’s like yourself, but in a completely different discipline.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"currentPage":82,"totalPages":83,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":84},1,9,10]