"It is the aim of science to co-ordinate all observable phenomena within a single natural order and it is its faith that such is possible. Hence the basic objection to acceptance of the supernatural. If the scientific stand is justified, then everything, whether of matter, energy, mind or spirit, belongs to one vast scheme—it is all one and every part has meaning in relation to the whole. This is as much a tenet of faith as any other belief, but it forms the working hypothesis of all real scientific endeavor. As a basis for action or inquiry it is worth pushing to the limit...If facts or phenomena, in whatever field, fail to fit in, then we modify or rebuild our conceptions until they do, on the assumption that they belong and that there is no separate pigeonhole for mystic revelation and no possibility for arbitrary intervention by any powers that be. If this brings the divine down to earth, so much the better for earthly inhabitants."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
You and the Universe (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1958) p. 6
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/N._J._Berrill
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
N. J. Berrill
Norman John "Jack" Berrill FRS FRSC (28 April 1903 – 16 October 1996) was an English marine biologist.
1 quote on TrueQuotesView all quotes by N. J. Berrill →
Related Quotes
"What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind."
"It is the characteristic of error to be feeble, fluctuating, and anxious: it is the property of truth to be constant …"
"...they make no use of tables; but only of the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of certain numbers…"
"[negative numbers] ‘…darken the very whole doctrines of the equations and make dark of the things which are in their …"
"and their were discovered in 1977. While the hot-water springs were predicted to occur at s, no one expected to find …"
"You can go for hundreds of meters along the and see nothing. But then you’ll get to a and it will be a garden of exot…"
"in the late 1970s led to the discovery of at s. More recently, sulphide deposits containing . In addition to metal-ri…"
"ecosystems have stimulated decades of and hold promise of mineral and genetic resources that also serve societal need…"
"The , which measures the , together with the total energy density of the Universe, sets the size of the observable Un…"
"We are at an interesting juncture in cosmology. With new methods and technology, the accuracy in measurement of the h…"