Reason Like Science, Grows By

Science Does Not Rest Upon Solid Bedrock. The Bold Structure Of Its Theories Rises, As It Were, Above A Swamp. It Is Like A Building Erected On Piles. The Piles Are Driven Down From Above Into The Swamp, But Not Down To Any Natural Or 'given' Base; And If We Stop Driving The Piles Deeper, It Is Not Because We Have Reached Firm Ground. We Simply Stop When We Are Satisfied That The Piles Are Firm Enough To Carry The Structure, At Least For The Time Being.

For Myself, I Am Interested In Science And In Philosophy Only Because I Want To Learn Something About The Riddle Of The World In Which We Live, And The Riddle Of Man's Knowledge Of That World. And I Believe That Only A Revival Of Interest In These Riddles Can Save The Sciences And Philosophy From An Obscurantist Faith In The Expert's Special Skill And In His Personal Knowledge And Authority.

We Are Social Creatures To The Inmost Centre Of Our Being. The Notion That One Can Begin Anything At All From Scratch, Free From The Past, Or Unindebted To Others, Could Not Conceivably Be More Wrong.

I Do Not Overlook The Fact That There Are Irrationalists Who Love Mankind, And That Not All Forms Of Irrationalism Engender Criminality. But I Hold That He Who Teaches That Not Reason But Love Should Rule Opens Up The Way For Those Who Rule By Hate. (socrates, I Believe, Saw Something Of This When He Suggested That Mistrust Or Hatred Of Argument Is Related To Mistrust Or Hatred Of Man).

The Only Way To Test A Hypothesis Is To Look For All The Information That Disagrees With It.