Weekly Quotes
29th April
To sum up: there is no 'scientific world-view' just as there is no uniform enterprise 'science' – except in the minds of metaphysicians, schoolmasters and scientists blinded by the achievements of their own particular niche. Still, there are many things we can learn from the sciences. But we can also learn from the humanities, from religion and from the remnants of ancient traditions that survived the onslaught of Western civilization. No area is unified and perfect, few areas are repulsive and completely without merit. There is no objective principle that could direct us away from the supermarket 'religion' or the supermarket 'art' towards the more modern, and much more expensive supermarket 'science'.
To sum up: there is no 'scientific world-view' just as there is no uniform enterprise 'science' – except in the minds of metaphysicians, schoolmasters and scientists blinded by the achievements of their own particular niche. Still, there are many things we can learn from the sciences. But we can also learn from the humanities, from religion and from the remnants of ancient traditions that survived the onslaught of Western civilization. No area is unified and perfect, few areas are repulsive and completely without merit. There is no objective principle that could direct us away from the supermarket 'religion' or the supermarket 'art' towards the more modern, and much more expensive supermarket 'science'.
"Has the scientific view of the world a special status compared with other views?" In: Jan Hilgevoord (ed), Physics and our View of the World, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994. p.146.