![]() ![]() The observer commonly starts by accumulating an isolated group of data, together with their estimated uncertainties. One emphasizes the observational approach, the other, the theoretical point of view. The special methods of science will be discussed hereafter, but they are characterized by the remark that research attempts to discover laws and to explain the laws by theories, the ultimate goal being the understanding of the physical structure and operation of the world in which we live.Īctually, investigations are carried out in various ways, two of which may be mentioned as typical examples. That influence, the man of science likes to believe, is generally beneficial. ![]() It may, and often does, produce a definite influence in those fields from which scientific technique is barred. Nevertheless the atmosphere of scientific research -the disinterested curiosity, controlled imagination, and passion for impersonal tests -is by no means unique. The calculus of values, if it is ever formulated, will probably have little in common with the calculus of science. The methods are so successful, indeed, that attempts are constantly made to apply them in other fields -to the study of things as they should be rather than things as they are. The special methods of science are efficient and powerful when they are used within their proper field -the region closed and bounded by the necessity for agreement on the subject matter. The acquisition and systemization of positive knowledge is the only human activity that is truly cumulative and progressive. The saints of today are not necessarily more saintly than those of a thousand years ago our artists are not necessarily greater than those of early Greece they are likely to be inferior and, of course, our men of science are not necessarily more intelligent than those of old yet one thing is certain, their knowledge is at once more extensive and more accurate. Wisdom is a personal achievement and is difficult to transmit. Each man appeals to his private god and recognizes no superior court of appeal. Science, since it deals only with such judgments, is necessarily barred from the world of values. The tests represent external authorities which all men must acknowledge, by their actions if not by their words, in order to survive. Agreement is secured by means of observation and experiment. “Science,” as Campbell remarks, “deals with judgments concerning which it is possible to obtain universal agreement.” These data are not individual events, but the invariable associations of events or properties which are known as laws of science. This remarkable attribute of science is bought at a price -the strict limitation of the subject matter. And tomorrow, or a thousand years hence, even our dreams may be forgotten. What a Newton might see today, we do not know. Even the giants are dwarfed by the great edifice in which their achievements are incorporated. Newton said, “If I have seen farther it was by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Today, the least of the men of science commands a wider prospect. ![]() The body of positive knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation, and each contributes to the growing structure. Science is the one human activity that is truly progressive. The following is an excerpt from his introduction, on the process of scientific research. Hubble’s landmark contributions to astronomy include his conclusion that there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way and his demonstration that the universe is expanding. In 1936, Edwin Hubble compiled a book based on his lectures on nebulae and astronomical observation. ![]()
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