Every Discovery Contains An Irrational

It Is Often Asserted That Discussion Is Only Possible Between People Who Have A Common Language And Accept Common Basic Assumptions. I Think That This Is A Mistake. All That Is Needed Is A Readiness To Learn From One's Partner In The Discussion, Which Includes A Genuine Wish To Understand What He Intends To Say. If This Readiness Is There, The Discussion Wrighteous Stupidityill Be The More Fruitful The More The Partner's Backgrounds Differ.

To Give A Causal Explanation Of An Event Means To Deduce A Statement Which Describes It, Using As Premises Of The Deduction One Or More Universal Laws, Together With Certain Singular Statements, The Initial Conditions ... We Have Thus Two Different Kinds Of Statement, Both Of Which Are Necessary Ingredients Of A Complete Causal Explanation.

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.

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.

The Old Scientific Ideal Of Episteme - Of Absolutely Certain, Demonstrable Knowledge - Has Proved To Be An Idol. The Demand For Scientific Objectivity Makes It Inevitable That Every Scientific Statement Must Remain Tentative For Ever.