Man and Science

109 Pages·1963·1.752 MB·English

by  W. Heitler

MAN
AND SCIENCE
W. HEITLER, F.R.S.
Professor of Theoretical Physics
The University, Zürich
Translated by
ROBERT SCHLAPP
OLIVER AND BOYD
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

MAN AND SCIENCE
OLIVER AND BOYD LTD
Tweeddale Court
Edinburgh ı
39A Welbeck Street
London W ı
A translation of Der Mensch und die Naturwissenschaftliche
Erkenntnis by Profesor W. Heitler. This English edition is
published by agreement with Friedr. Vieweg and Sohn, Braun-
schweig.
FIRST PUBLISHED 1963
ENGLISH EDITION
First Published 1963
© 1963, W. Heitler
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW
Preface
HIS little book grew out of a public lecture I gave at
the University of Zürich in the winter of 1960. The
original lecture was published in the quarterly journal
of the Zürich Society for Scientific Research in 1960.
The main ideas on which the book is based date back a
number of years. The reason why I have now made up
my mind to publish a considered and connected account
will be clear from the Introduction. As an active participant
in the scientific developments of our time I feel that it is now
my duty to give expression to these thoughts. In so doing
I make no claim that everything put forward here is new
and has not already been said by others. Probably only a
small fraction of the relevant literature (which would have
to include the pronouncements of philosophers, theologians
and scientists in practically all fields) has come under my
notice. Occasional quotations show where I have, more or
less by chance, found parallels to the ideas of this book.
My thanks are due to the following, who have helped
me by reading the manuscript and providing critical com-
ments upon it. Professor B. L. van der Waerden (Zürich),
Dr. P. Rosbaud (London), Dr. H. Heitler (Bristol) and the
Rev. H. U. Jäger (Zürich). Much of their commentary
has left its trace in the text. I am also indebted to Professor
van der Waerden for some detailed discussions of many of
the questions treated here.
Finally I should like to express thanks of a more anony-
mous kind. When the main part of the manuscript was
complete I was privileged to spend some time in India, a
land into which western science and technology are pouring
like a deluge over the soil of an ancient and elevated spiritual
Vv
v1 PREFACE
culture. Again and again, and wherever I went, the anxious
question was put to me, in one form or another, “how can
we prevent this materialistic science, which we too need so
sorcly, from at the same time destroying our spiritual life?”
The only reply I could give consisted, more or less, of
portions of this book. Many talks with Indians, mostly
young, including scientists as well as non-scientists, have
greatly increased my confidence in what I have said, and
have strengthened my conviction that it is time this book
was written, and written by a scientist. To all these young
Indians I here offer my sincerest thanks.
THE UNIVERSITY
ZURICH
Summer 1961
Translator s Preface
This translation embodies the alterations and additions
made by the author for the second edition published
by F. Vieweg and Sohn, 1962.
R.S.
Contents
Introduction ... ννν “
. Newton versus Kepler 6
. Goethe versus Newton 17
. The Atom 31
. The Science of Living Things 54
. The Cosmos ... 76
Conclusion 94
To the sage, aware and uncorrupted, came Science, and said to
him, “Promise me and swear a holy oath that you will not deliver
me up to evil persons, but will impart me only to such as are of
open mind and pure in heart. For thus only am I strong and able
to feed and clothe mankind. Otherwise I shall destroy you, your
disciples and all men.”
Saying (1938) of Swami Dev
Maharaj, (quoted from the book
Tagebücher aus Asien, by H. H.
von Veltheim-Ostrau).
Introduction
T a time when science is affecting our lives at an
ever-increasing pace and ever more profoundly, both
directly and indirectly through its applications, there
can scarcely be a more topical theme than the relation of
science toman. We ought perhaps to say of man to science.
But are we really still the overlords, exercising power over
our own creation? We read daily that the evolution cannot
be reversed. What this means is that we are not prepared
to forgo some of the seductive amenities, the wealth, the
power, the lavishly dispensed entertainment, the intoxica-
tion of speed and much else that science has given us. We
would rather put up with all sorts of things that are not
beneficial to us as human beings. It is scarcely necessary to
mention the well-known evils of mechanisation, of noise
and so on. Urged on by fear that at their enormous rate of
consumption our sources of energy will soon be exhausted
we are beginning to build nuclear power stations, although
as yet no one knows how to dispose of the radioactive
waste products which could, if not kept in absolute security,
kill off all forms of life over large regions or contaminate
the oceans. So far these power stations are few and small.
The problem will arise when they are larger and more
numerous. But it seems that we are prepared to incur a
small risk of a great catastrophe. At all events nuclear
power stations demand extraordinary protective measures.
Mechanisation has turned industry into a vast machine, in
whose service innumerable human beings themselves become
parts of the machine—at least as far as their work is con-
cerned. Science, from physics to psychology, has provided
us with undreamt-of advertising techniques, some of them
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2 MAN AND SCIENCE
of great subtlety. Probably one of the most disreputable
of our inventions is subliminal suggestion in which people
arc influenced by flashes of light of short duration which
cannot be detected by the eye but produce an eflect sub-
consciously. If this method should come into common
use, there would no longer be any question of freedom.
Here again protective measures are needed—in this case by
legal enactments. Examples could be multiplied indefi-
nitely. These are all things that are certainly not conducive
to the freedom of humanity. Finally science has opened
up the grotesque possibility of destroying out of hand all
life on this earth, by nuclear explosions or by bacteria—
yet we cannot create a single living cell. One can imagine
no greater crime than the destruction of all life on the earth.
It is science that first created the means for doing this.
Already we often speak of the demonic nature of technology.
In view of the facts we have mentioned, and many we have
not mentioned, we cannot help regarding this expression as
only too well justified.
In enumerating some of the debit items of the scientific
age we must of course not forget the great material blessings
this same science has given us—the higher standard of living
in what used to be the famine lands, the elimination of
pestilences and generally the conquest of innumerable
diseases by medical science. The fact remains however that
many of the applications of our science, more particularly
in recent times, are directly inimical to life, even if they
provide us with material amenities. We must ask how this
comes about. Why is it that having made an invention we
have so often immediately to invent something else to
protect us from it? Science is based on the desire for
knowledge of nature; no great discovery ever had any
other motive. How then does it happen that the wonderful
profound and beautiful insights we have won, the revelation
of the secret laws of nature, in which we live and to which