When Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity ‘toppled’ Sir Isaac Newton’s model which was dominant since the Renaissance, it led to a new resurgence — that the fundamentals of scientific discernment were not a fixed, or inflexible, set of edicts. Rather, such models were elucidations of certain composite portents reliant on societal norms, just as much as their nature in terms of reality. Hence, the analysis: scientific justification cannot be always looked upon as independent and objective.
This explains why it is never late, in any epoch, to cultivate what Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister and statesman par excellence, epitomised as the ‘scientific temper’ in us all. His resounding metaphor wasn’t a sweeping generalisation of facts. It was a realistic outlook; a possibility construct too. However, to make the multifaceted thought simple, we’d cherry-pick evolutionist Richard Dawkins’ perceptive credo — that the wonders of science are not just verdicts; they also cascade opulently in our mind. Besides, the tenets of scientific thought are nothing short of our aesthetic experience. They contend with the algebra of music, or poetry, too.
Pure science is not a boring, arid, pithy, or intellectual idea, as is the popular opinion. It has its own element of prettiness, also motivation, on its whole canvas. This eclectic thought is keyed to a refined doctrine: the creation of work, or decorative body of knowledge, or what all of us, quite simply, call as science. This is also yet another reason why the likes of Dawkins take on science’s fireside chair critics head-on. To drive home the point, Dawkins formulates a motif for cultured science — a concerted inquiry that does away with unintelligent debris. Not that Dawkins succeeds in his every exposition. All the same, he delivers a notation — an earnest attempt that integrates science as fine art. In other words, the splendour of reality — or, the reality of attractiveness of science — including the fulsome understanding and expansive appreciation of not just scientific thought, but also advanced knowledge.
-30-
Copyright©Madras Courier, All Rights Reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from madrascourier.com and redistribute by email, post to the web, mobile phone or social media.Please send in your feed back and comments to [email protected]
