About one hundred years ago, biologist* D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
(On Growth and Form) wrote, “Everything is what it is because it got that way.” This seems to me the perfect exposition of the scientific, rationalist philosophy.
Now, I’m thinking that he deliberately used naive language to stress the fundamental and indisputable nature of the observation. I wonder if anyone will agree with me. (Always up for new experiences!)
* Amended: British mathematician, biologist, zoologist, university teacher, classical scholar and poet
Whatcha Think?
- Slava
- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: Whatcha Think?
I'll bite: while the statement is true to a point, it does miss the why of the 'got that way'. In other words, there's no cause for the because.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
- Dr. Goodword
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Re: Whatcha Think?
I think is an amusingly simple way to say that everything develops.
• The Good Dr. Goodword
Re: Whatcha Think?
Ah, but science does not concern itself with ‘why’. Only the humble, but endlessly fascinating, ‘how’. Though many practitioners are believers, science per se does not admit of intent.I'll bite: while the statement is true to a point, it does miss the why of the 'got that way'. In other words, there's no cause for the because.
- Slava
- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: Whatcha Think?
I didn't mean the intent version of why, rather the how come version. Why did X happen? What caused it?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
Re: Whatcha Think?
I get it. That’s how I interpret ‘why’. Maybe that’s an idiosyncrasy. Anyhoo, I think it’s accurate to say science always looks for the next-proximate cause. There being, in my view, and that of most scientists, no consciousness, ultimately. There are the laws of physics (those in this universe, anyway). And biological evolution. (Bless its vexatious little heart.)I didn't mean the intent version of why, rather the how come version. Why did X happen? What caused it?
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