1965 Geloof en Wetenschap : Orgaan van de Christelijke vereeniging van natuur- en geneeskundigen in Nederland - pagina 247

THE NATURE AND VALUE OF PHYSICAL KNOWLEDGE

203

a supei-mathematician or super-geometer i), I feel, that it is only one of the examples of the tendency of man to seek the anchorage for his explanation of the world in one of its aspects, rather than to acknowledge, that all aspects are anchored in the Will and Wisdom of the Creator. If we assent to the view that in physical research man is actualizing a relationship, potentially present in creation, between himself and his environment and that this actualisation is part of his cultural charge, we are allowed to consider the knowledge acquired in this way, as genuine and trustworthy knowledge. This does not exclude of course the possibility that in a certain phase of the investigation it may be imperfect and incomplete and even incorrect. The building up of the knowledge-relation is a continuous process, in which the formulation constantly needs correction, supplementation and even thorough revision, and in which the abundance and variety of the phenomena have always proved to be far in excess of what was already found and surmised. For the progress of science it is essential that scientific reflection should tentatively extrapolate and generalize the conclusions which can be deduced from the available observations, whereby rules and conceptions can be formulated, which are of much wider scope than the already known facts and which therefore have to be submitted again and again to empirical observation. For this reason and not withstanding the objective character of physical knowledge there will always appear to be differences of opinion and insight between individual scientists in every phase of the process. In the historical controversy between science and Christianity, such differences were sometimes used on the christian side as an argument to ignore the results of scientific investigation, or to acknowledge them only under the provision that all scientific knowledge will always be hypothetical and therefore uncertain and perhaps even untrue. ^) In special the theory of relativity was reason for some authors to revive this ancient conception, e.g. A. Wenzl, Das naturwissenschaftliche Weltbild der Gegenwart (1929), p. 47: „Die Welt ist also eine „Realisation" eines mathematischen Gebildes, die Objektivation eines homogenen vierdimensionalen Gebildes geworden, der alte griechische Gedanke von der Gottheit die Geometrie treibt ist mit neuem Leben erfüllt worden".

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen