Mon, 16 Apr 2007
Art or Science
One of my all time favorite quote come from the German occultist Rudolf Steiner. The in a book of talks called "The Younger Generation," as they were given to a young audience in 1922. The quote is on nature as art or science:
People say today he is not a true scientist who does not interpret observation and experiment quite logically; who does not pass from thought to thought in the correct methods that have been evolved. If he does not do this he is no genuine thinker. But, my dear friends, what if reality happens to be an artist and scorns our elaborate dialectical and experimental methods? What if Nature herself works according to artistic impulses? If that were so human science, according to Nature, would have to become an artist, for otherwise there would be no possibility of understanding Nature. That, however, is certainly not the standpoint of the modern scientist. His standpoint is: Nature may be an artist or a dreamer; it makes no difference to us, for we decree how we propose to cultivate science. What does it matter to us if nature is an artist? It matters not at all, for that is not our standpoint!
