Q0177

Hu Shi

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Boldly hypothesize; carefully verify.
Thinker Hu Shi
School Experimentalism
Source The Methods of Qing Scholars; lectures on method
Theme Method
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with The Methods of Qing Scholars; lectures on method, within the tradition of Experimentalism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of method, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Hu Shi's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Hu Shi. (n.d.). Boldly hypothesize; carefully verify. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0177

MLA: Hu Shi. “Boldly hypothesize; carefully verify..” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0177.

Chicago: Hu Shi. “Boldly hypothesize; carefully verify..” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0177.

Same thinker

More from Hu Shi

  1. Study problems, import theories, reorganize the national heritage, and recreate civilization.
  2. Having become a pawn that has crossed the river, one can only press desperately forward.
  3. Tolerance is the foundation of all freedom; without tolerance, there is no freedom.

All quotations by Hu Shi

Same theme

More on method

  1. Plurality should not be posited without necessity.
  2. Once in a lifetime, everything must be doubted.
  3. Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the easy; great affairs under Heaven must arise from the small.
  4. The Master said: The craftsman who wishes to do his work well must first sharpen his tools.
  5. Seek simplicity and distrust it.

Browse the method theme