(no subject)

[robinturner]

Found this in kiad's userinfo (I don't know whether she agrees with it or not - probabaly not, judging by the other quotations)

The motto of the Royal Society of London is 'Nullius in verba' : trust not in words. Observation and experiment are what count, not opinion and introspection. Few working scientists have much respect for those who try to interpret nature in metaphysical terms. For most wearers of white coats, philosophy is to science as pornography is to sex: it is cheaper, easier, and some people seem, bafflingly, to prefer it. Outside of psychology it plays almost no part in the functions of the research machine.''
(Steve Jones, University College, London)
From his review of How the Mind Works (by Steve Pinker) in The New York Review of Books (pages 13-14) November 6, 1997.

Typical psychologist reaction. They're stuck with a pre-paradigmatic science, so they sling mud at anything that sound unempirical. Physicists don't have this inferiority complex, and so don't slag off philosophy.

Comments

[bram.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about that. Many working physicists are pretty contemptuous of philosophy. Although there's much diversity. I think those most into philosophy are (1) those past their prime research years and (2) the few who are genius enough to do research inspired by philosophical ideas (Einstein, Bohr.) The problem is many who are (1) fancy themselves (2).

[solri.livejournal.com]

Well maybe being past one's prime research time gives the opportunity to look at the broader picture. Or maybe it's just a need to keep publishing, I don't know. The only philosophical conversations I've had with physicists were with undergraduates.

This reminds me - my mother says when she was at university there were amazing late-night discussions between the physicists who were high on Bohr's and Heisenberg's latest stuff and the philosophers who were just starting to get translations of Zen and Taoist texts. She thought it might be worth writing a book about, but never got around to it. Years later, The Tao of Physics and The Dancing Wu Li Masters came out, and she was kicking herself!

[kristian.livejournal.com]

Tao is the best book in the universe!