Humanism and America : $b Essays on the outlook of modern civilisation
Philosophy
Humanism and America : $b Essays on the outlook of modern civilisation
Humanism; Literature -- Philosophy; Philosophy, Modern; United States -- Civilization -- 20th century
Exact science, then, is first of all based on the naïve belief in an
objective and real world whose events are connected in an orderly and
prescribed manner, and occur independently of our thought or will. The
phenomena of this objective world appeal to us through our sense-organs
by some form of action, which we call energy, and are interpreted by
our minds. We speak of this interpretation as observation; but to be
scientific we must also select the phenomena to be observed, in order
that we may classify their similarities and their dissimilarities.
In the course of time, we have found such precision in many of our
classifications and such regularity in the past actions of phenomena,
that we are able to predict future events. Those predictions, which
from past experience we find to have been accurately verified, we
formulate as laws. For example, we have observed the actions of so
many falling bodies that we have formulated the law of gravitation. It
would be an error to say that a body fell, yesterday, because of this
law; that event was simply one of the observed facts from which the
law was deduced; but it is quite proper to predict that such a body
will fall, to-morrow, in accordance with the law of gravitation. To
sum up, the scientific method is limited to experimental observation
and the formulation of laws; its value lies in the fact that, by its
cultivation, we have done much to allay our apprehensions for the
future and thus have abated the edge of superstition; and we also
have vastly increased our power over our environment, or, in the much
misunderstood aphorism of Francis Bacon, we have found science to be
valuable for its fruits.
In a general way, we may say that the scientist should follow in his
investigations the phenomena of the objective world only until their
special forms of energy are absorbed by our nervous system. It is in
the province of the humanist to study the phenomena of the subjective
world after these stimuli have been translated into emotion and thought.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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