[asa] Science according to Einstein

Perhaps this can be of some help. Einstein indicates that there are three principal features which science has firmly adhered to since Galileo Galilei. This includes not only physics, but also all natural sciences dealing with both organic and inorganic processes,

"First: Thinking, alone, can never lead to any knowledge of external objects. Sense perception is the beginning of all research, and the truth of theoretical thought is given exclusively by its relation to the sum total of those experiences.

Second: All elementary concepts are reducible to space-time concepts. Only such concepts occur in the 'laws of nature.' In this sense, all scientific thought is 'geometric.' A law of nature is expected to hold true without exceptions; it is given up as soon as one is convinced that one of its conclusions is incompatible with a single experimental fact.

Third: The spatiotemporal laws are complete. This means, there is not a single law of nature that, in principle, could not be reduced to a law within the domain of space-time concepts. This principle implies, for instance, the conviction that psychic entities and relations can be reduced, in the last analysis, to processes of a physical and chemical nature within the nervous system. According to this principle, there are no nonphysical elements in the causal system of the processes of nature. In this sense, there is no room for 'free will' within the framework of scientific thought, nor for an escape into 'vitalism.'" [Albert Einstein. "Physics, Philosophy, and Scientific Progress." Physics Today 58, no. 6, 46-8 (2005).]

Moorad

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Received on Mon Jul 10 20:54:29 2006