![]() The Principles of Natural Knowledge (1919) It is a safe rule to apply that, when a mathematical or philosophical author writes with a misty profundity, he is talking nonsense.Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle - they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing.By relieving the brain of all unnecessary work, a good notation sets it free to concentrate on more advanced problems, and in effect increases the mental power of the race.Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it. We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment.The Concept of Nature (1919), Chapter VII, p.143.Īn Introduction to Mathematics (1911).The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, " Seek simplicity and distrust it." We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts.Snakes in the Ganga : Breaking India 2.0. “Buddhism and Science: Probing the Boundaries Of Faith and Reason.” Religion East and West (1): 77-97. Buddhism is the most colossal example in the history of applied metaphysics.1.4.1 Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead (1954).1.4 Attributed from posthumous publications. ![]() 1.2.3 Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (1929).1.2.1 Science and the Modern World (1925).1.1.2 The Principles of Natural Knowledge (1919).1.1.1 An Introduction to Mathematics (1911). ![]()
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