Arthur Eddington quotes - page 4

Ninety-nine people out of a hundred have not seriously considered what they mean by the term "exist" nor how a thing qualifies itself to be labelled real. (Arthur Eddington)
The exploration of the external world by the methods of physical science leads not to a concrete reality but to a shadow world of symbols, beneath which those methods are unadapted for penetrating. View quote
Arthur Eddington
Physical science comes nearest to that complete system of exact knowledge which all sciences have before them as an ideal. Some fall far short of it. The physicist who inveighs against the lack of coherence and the indefiniteness of theological theories, will probably speak not much less harshly of the theories of biology and psychology. They also fail to come up to his standard of methodology. On the other side of him stands an even superior being - the pure mathematician - who has no high opinion of the methods of deduction used in physics, and does not hide his disapproval of the laxity of what is accepted as proof in physical science. And yet somehow knowledge grows in all these branches. Wherever a way opens we are impelled to seek by the only methods that can be devised for that particular opening, not over-rating the security of our finding, but conscious that in this activity of mind we are obeying the light that is in our nature. View quote
Arthur Eddington
If in a community of the blind one man suddenly received the gift of sight, he would have much to tell which would not be at all scientific. View quote
Arthur Eddington
We have to build the spiritual world out of symbols taken from our own personality, as we build the scientific world out of the symbols of the mathematician. View quote
Arthur Eddington
Science has an important part to play in our everyday existence, and there is far too much neglect of science; but its intention is to supplement not to supplant the familiar outlook. View quote
Arthur Eddington
You will understand the true spirit neither of science nor of religion unless seeking is placed in the forefront. View quote
Arthur Eddington
If our so-called facts are changing shadows, they are shadows cast by the light of constant truth. So too in religion we are repelled by that confident theological doctrine ... but we need not turn aside from the measure of light that comes into our experience showing us a Way through the unseen world. View quote
Arthur Eddington
We often think that when we have completed our study of one we know all about two, because "two" is "one and one." We forget that we still have to make a study of "and." View quote
Arthur Eddington
It is of interest to inquire what happens when the aviator's speed... approximates to the velocity of light. View quote
Arthur Eddington
Our story of evolution ended with a stirring in the brain-organ of the latest of Nature's experiments. (Arthur Eddington)
Science is one thing, wisdom is another. Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers. View quote
Arthur Eddington
We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident, bits of a star gone wrong. View quote
Arthur Eddington
It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them. View quote
Arthur Eddington
It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. View quote
Arthur Eddington
We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origins. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo! It is our own. View quote
Arthur Eddington
I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars. View quote
Arthur Eddington
For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal. It does not follow that every item which we confidently accept as physical knowledge has actually been certified by the Court; our confidence is that it would be certified by the Court if it were submitted. But it does follow that every item of physical knowledge is of a form which might be submitted to the Court. It must be such that we can specify (although it may be impracticable to carry out) an observational procedure which would decide whether it is true or not. Clearly a statement cannot be tested by observation unless it is an assertion about the results of observation. Every item of physical knowledge must therefore be an assertion of what has been or would be the result of carrying out a specified observational procedure. View quote
Arthur Eddington
The aviator himself detects nothing unusual. View quote
Arthur Eddington
Some mechanism seems to be needed, whereby either gravitation creates matter, or all the matter in the universe conspires to define a law of gravitation. View quote
Arthur Eddington
The finding of one generation will not serve for the next. It tarnishes rapidly except it be reserved with an ever-renewed spirit of seeking. (Arthur Eddington)
Only here and there does it arise to the level of consciousness, but from such islands proceeds all knowledge. The latter includes our knowledge of the physical world. View quote
Arthur Eddington
It remains a real world if there is a background to the symbols. View quote
Arthur Eddington
Symbolically it is the end, but looking behind the symbolism it is the beginning. View quote
Arthur Eddington
The idealistic tinge in my conception of the physical world arose out of mathematical researches on the relativity theory. In so far as I had any earlier philosophical views, they were of an entirely different complexion. View quote
Arthur Eddington