SCIENCE AND FAITH
Sir,-Your correspondent A.R. denies that science is concerned with faith. "Science," he says, "is that body of organised knowledge which can be tested and verified by experience. It has no need of faith to support its propositions. To accept the scientific tradition requires no act of faith. It works. That is the test of its validity." Jeans or Eddington would have been more cautious, for the mere fact that a scientific hypothesis works is no guarantee of its validity. We accept the mole- = = = = eee. eelelhUlermhCUlermUmUWw}S CU!
cular and atomic theories as a working hypothesis, and their acceptance simplifies and tidies things for our systematic minds. But what is an atom? Jeans says it is a push or pull in nothing, an abstract lopsidedness. It would appear to have no ultimate existence. So then, by an act of faith, I accept the atomic theory because it works, it appears to explain the facts, and gives me a feeling of security. But at best it is only an analogy, an anthropomorphism to explain the inexplicable. To me, faith itself, to use A.R.’s own words, "can be tested and verified by experience." It works. That is as good a test of its validity as any scientific theory. So both "science" and "faith" share the common uncertainty of all things. The man who lives by faith is as likely to arrive at the truth as the man who must weigh and test everything in the laboratory. More likely, I think, for Jeans reminds us that the universe is "more like a thought than a machine."
WARREN
GREEN
(Ngaruawahia)
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19450105.2.10.2
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 289, 5 January 1945, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
267SCIENCE AND FAITH New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 289, 5 January 1945, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in