Saturday, November 18, 2017

The road of Science by Max Born


I have tried to read philosophers of all ages and have found many
illuminating ideas but no steady progress toward deeper
knowledge and understanding.

Science, however, gives me the feeling of steady progress:
I am convinced that theoretical physics is actual philosophy.
It has revolutionized fundamental concepts,e.g., about space and time
(relativity), about causality (quantum theory), and about substance
and matter (atomistics), and it has taught us new methods of thinking
(complementarity) which are applicable far beyond physics.


I believe that ideas such as absolute certitude, absolute exactness,
final truth, etc.are figments of the imagination which should not
be admissible in any field of science.
This loosening of thinking seems to me to be the greatest blessing
which modern science has given to us. For the belief in a single truth
and in being the possessor thereof is the root cause of all evil in the world.


My advice to those who which to learn the art of scientific prophesy
is not to rely on abstract reason, but to decipher the secret language
of Nature from Nature's documents: the facts of experience.
Max Born

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