14 Jun 2007
by booksandmusings
in Absurdity, Authors, Books, Education, Fiction, Life, philosophy, Reading, Science
Tags: An Enemy of the People, Bernard Shaw, Ibsen, Joan of Arc, Louis Pasteur
“Science is not for the benefit of scientists, but for the benefit of humanity.” – Louis Pasteur (1870)
The above is what Pasteur tells his wife who worries that once his vaccine is seen to be successful, he will have no respite. Little did she know that the resistance to change especially of a set of beliefs comes much after the empirical evidence provided by the experimenter is established beyond doubt. We do not acknowledge our saints before we have burnt them at their own stake. Until then genius is met only by scorn.
When I had heard the condemnation of Pasteur by the French monarchy, I cannot but draw an analogy with Ibsen’s play – “An Enemy of the People”. Both lived around the same time period. In fact, his play is a parallel of the life of Louis Pasteur. Ibsen wrote the play in 1877 just a decade after Pasteur was condemned to leave Paris and settle down in the village of Arbois (where he experimented on the first vaccine for Anthrax). Dr. Stockmann was scoffed at for suggesting that their baths were polluted, just as Louis Pasteur was condemned for suggesting that the doctors who did not rid themselves of germs were actually killing their own patients! The concept that an organism which was a ten thousand times smaller than the humans could not affect humans!
In this age of virus, vaccine and antibiotic we have come to accept that we live in a world full of microbes, the very concept that was scoffed at as late as 1870s. The genius was driven to exile. Shaw follows Ibsen’s streak in believing that all genius is misunderstood and the imbeciles often decide public opinion. Ibsen also proves to you that the multitude is always wrong and science should not suffer at the hands of the common multitude. Shaw’s Joan of Arc meets her tragic death where she was burnt as a heretic. Shew preached exactly those sentiments that run all over the world – nationalism.
It brings us to the postulate – “No man is understood in his own times”. I understand Shaw and Ibsen’s disillusionment with the masses. For every genius existing, it takes another to recognize him, otherwise he will be scorned. However, Pasteur was recognized in his own times. The obstinate and proud academy of science succumbed to his genius. The chemist became a doctor! Though I understand the disillusionment of Shaw and Ibsen, I do not agree with them.
19 May 2007
by booksandmusings
in Life, philosophy, Religion, Science, Thoughts
Tags: Einstein, Issac Newton, Kant, Natural Philosophy, Newton
I was reading about Newton and his contributions through The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy aka Principia Mathematica. I was amazed to learn that who are today referred to as Physicists or Biologists were known as natural philosophers and Newton belonged to that category.
Newton’s only answer to all the questions he was asked, about the method of his discovery was always that he arrived at all his answers through continuous thinking. Wow! Is it as simple as that? Apparently Kant was of the notion that Newton could not be termed a “genius” for a genius is someone who comes up with the truth out of nothingness and Newton could provide explanations for his truths. Therefore, he was not a genius!
Newton did not explain his findings. What he did was to think about the apple that fell, not sideways, nor went up but the fact that it came down straight. It was twenty years before Newton could actually prove his idea of gravity. The concept existed in him but not the term. He arrived at that much later. The point here is that like Newton, we all have a propensity for thought. Some of us culture it and some of us don’t. The people who culture their thoughts are often the ones with most conviction in their thoughts vis-à-vis the traditional knowledge that we are so accustomed to and in which we find comfort.
Many would not give Newton his due for not being able to see what Einstein did. But what Newton discovered was a body of science as a mathematical explanation of his philosophy. He beautifully fused into one body, the philosophy and the science; he has shown that the two go together.
Today, science (body) is dissected from philosophy (mind). People who read philosophy dissect it from spirituality (spirit) and religion dissects us from reality. The only truth is in a combination of the three elements and the elimination of religion. The complete and singular whole is a compound of the three – mind, body and spirit. Newton believed in a fusion of the two elements mind/spirit and body, I have dissected it into three.
I was reading about Newton and his contributions through The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy aka Principia Mathematica. I was amazed to learn that who are today referred to as Physicists or Biologists were known as natural philosophers and Newton belonged to that category.
