The very soul of science

✍ Scribed by Peter S. Rodman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 79 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0275-2565
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(1999)48:3<247::aid-ajp6>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

Where ordinary concepts and everyday chains of logic suffice to give intellectual comfort with familiar kinds of materials, there is no scientific virtue in mathematical formalism. Three kinds of events can upset this amiable state of affairs: (1) a rise in the standard of intellectual comfort , so that what was once acceptable as an explanation is no longer adequate; (2) an extension of study to new kinds of materials where ordinary concepts and everyday logic are no longer competent ; and (3) initially unrelated conceptual inventions, often new mathematics, which change the setting and illumination of familiar materials. Joel Cohen, 1972.