The History Of Science, Like

A Theory That Explains Everything, Explains Nothing

No Number Of Sightings Of White Swans Can Prove The Theory That All Swans Are White. The Sighting Of Just One Black One May Disprove It.

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.

I Have Come To The Conclusion That Darwinism Is Not A Testable Scientific Theory, But A Metaphysical Research Programme.

Our Aim As Scientists Is Objective Truth; More Truth, More Interesting Truth, More Intelligible Truth. We Cannot Reasonably Aim At Certainty. Once We Realize That Human Knowledge Is Fallible, We Realize Also That We Can Never Be Completely Certain That We Have Not Made A Mistake.