27 AUG 2012 by ideonexus
Newton's Rules of Reasoning in Natural Philosophy
RULE I We are to admit no more causes of natural things, than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. To this purpose the philosophers say, that Nature does nothing in vain, and more is in vain, when less will serve; for Nature is pleased with simplicity, and affects not the pomp of superfluous causes. RULE II Therefore to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes. As to respiration in a man, and in a beast; the desce...A hint of Occam's razor and much induction.
20 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
The Importance of Quantification
The rudest numerical scales, such as that by which the mineralogists distinguish different degrees of hardness, are found useful. The mere counting of pistils and stamens sufficed to bring botany out of total chaos into some kind of form. It is not, however, so much from counting as from measuring, not so much from the conception of number as from that of continuous quantity, that the advantage of mathematical treatment comes. Number, after all, only serves to pin us down to a precision in ou...Folksonomies: measurement quantification
Folksonomies: measurement quantification
Even rough numerical scales are better than nothing.
25 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Focus on Common Things
And first, for those things which seem common. Let men bear in mind that hitherto they have been accustomed to do no more than refer and adapt the causes of things which rarely happen to such as happen frequently, while of those which happen frequently they never ask the cause, but take them as they are for granted. And therefore they do not investigate the causes of weight, of the rotation of heavenly bodies, of heat, cold, light, hardness, softness, rarity, density, liquidity, solidity, ani...We overlook the common in scientific inquiry, but it is in the common occurrences that the laws of nature are to be found.