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Science
"Science can't be free of philosophy any more than baseball can be free of physics" -- Jeffrey L. Kasser
The Chattering (Sons of) Monkeys
The Religious Faith of Modern Science
True Science
"The inconsistency spoken of between nature and scripture, arises not from antagonism, but from the misinterpretations of both. It is man’s interpretation of the one set against man’s interpretations of the other. It is not nature versus scripture, but false science against true theology, or false theology against scientific fact. Some scientific men, we believe, view the Scriptures through the distorted medium of 'confessions of faith' and doubt them, and theologians view science and call it false, because it does not take to their turn-pike road. Did each study scripture as the one studies science, there would be greater harmony where they least look for it, but both study outside and at the book, and not in it. And as the ignorant misinterpret scripture by appealing to the notions they have preconceived from the philosophy of the schools, their preconceived notions are the base of their errors. What they have been in the habit of thinking and taught to think, they cannot doubt. And in this state of mind they read the word. They believe so and so, ere they begin. The question probably never enters their mind, Am I right? Am I wrong?" (The Christadelphian, 1864, p. 93-94)
"'The subtilty of nature' says Bacon 'is far beyond that of sense or of the understanding: so that the specious meditations, speculations, and theories of mankind are but a kind of insanity.” And in these times, science has displaced this by demonstrations from the vigilant observation of nature’s operations. In times past, the human mind was presumed capable of understanding nature by the simple effort of her own unaided power—as if it were by intuition, as if it needed not to perceive the operations of nature. But now this fallacy is laid bare, and the mistakes to which it gave rise illustrate how the human mind is susceptible of error from its own intuition. The means by which the discoveries in nature have been made show how such mistakes may be avoided. In those discoveries, nature but revealed herself. She was, and is her only interpreter. The human mind but stood and watched her operations and this is the only method the scientific man takes to find her out. And just so in the study of scripture. The Bible is upon the same principle, its own interpreter. Science cannot interpret it; philosophy cannot draw out its secrets, neither can the intuitions of the human understanding comprehend it. It reveals itself. Man has only to discern—examine it. He cannot certainly as in the mode of science, take a part of the matter, submit it to certain experiments, and carefully watch and note the result: but he can certainly, as surely, shut out all preconceived notions from his mind, lay aside all the traditions of philosophy, and compare portion with portion; 'spiritual things with spiritual things.' In this way only can he arrive at the truth, and spiritually discern the things of the Spirit. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, because they are 'foolishness to him.' And this in nature as well as in scripture. In nature, he has to lay aside all his own conceptions ere he can discover truth—he has to observe simply, not explain, and note his observations." (The Christadelphian, 1865, p. 114)
The Modern "Scientific" World
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. " -- Richard Feynman
"I was a little surprised when I was talking to a friend who was going to go on the radio. He does work on cosmology and astronomy, and he wondered how he would explain what the applications of his work were. 'Well,' I said, 'there aren't any.' He said, 'Yes, but then we won't get support for more research of this kind.'" -- Richard Feynman
"The lie is to pretend that science presents us with the full and only truth about nature." -- Lawrence Gage
I Wonder If He Ever Thought 'Character, Morality, Not Just Education'...
"At some time people thought that the potential that people had was not developed because everyone was ignorant and that education was the solution to the problem, that if all people were educated, we could perhaps all be Voltaires. But it turns out that falsehood and evil can be taught as easily as good. Education is a great power, but it can work either way." -- Richard Feynman
The Fool Hath Said in His Heart, 'There is no God'...
"Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation which is unthinkable." -- Arthur Keith
"What is the cause of all things seen? "The fool says in his heart it is not God. Why does he say so? Because he would make the cause of all things, a mere physical disposition in matter, destitute of all intellectual and moral attributes, in order that he may get rid of all responsibility to such a Being . He hates truth, righteousness, and holiness, and therefore he vainly strives to persuade himself that there is no God of a truthful, righteous, and holy character." (John Thomas, Elpis Israel)
Therefore He Vainly Strives to Persuade Himself...
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself--and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that." -- Richard Feynman
This "first principle" is the reason that self-integrity and self-inspection are necessities. Most men would rather inspect how a thing affects their self-interests instead.
"What, Then, is The Meaning of It All?"
"From time to time, people suggest to me that scientists ought to give more consideration to social problems especially that they should be more responsible in considering the impact of science upon society. This same suggestion must be made to many other scientists, and it seems to be generally believed that if the scientists would only look at these very difficult social problems and not spend so much time fooling with the less vital scientific ones, great success would come of it. It seems to me that we do think about these problems from time to time, but we don't put fulltime effort on them the reason being that we know we don't have any magic formula for solving problems, that social problems are very much harder than scientific ones, and that we usually don't get anywhere when we do think about them. I believe that a scientist looking at non-scientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy and when he talks about a non-scientific matter, he will sound as naive as anyone untrained in the matter." -- Richard Feynman
"What, then, is the meaning of it all? What can we say to dispel the mystery of existence? If we take everything into account, not only what the ancients knew, but also all of those things that we have found out up to today that they didn't know, then I think that we must frankly admit that we do not know ." -- Richard Feynman
Last Update: July 13, 2007