08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
The Importance of Science History
If we wish to imitate the physical sciences, we must not imitate them in their contemporary, most developed form; we must imitate them in their historical youth, when their state of development was comparable to our own at the present time. Otherwise we should behave like boys who try to copy the imposing manners of full-grown men without understanding their raison d' ĂȘtre, also without seeing that in development one cannot jump over intermediate and preliminary phases.Is in understanding how the children became the adults we see today in scientific understanding.
16 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Theory Versus Discovery
Discovery always carries an honorific connotation. It is the stamp of approval on a finding of lasting value. Many laws and theories have come and gone in the history of science, but they are not spoken of as discoveries. Kepler is said to have discovered the laws of planetary motion named after him, but no the many other 'laws' which he formulated. ... Theories are especially precarious, as this century profoundly testifies. World views can and do often change. Despite these difficulties, it...Theories come and go in the sciences, but discovery that stays around has a romantic permanence in science history.