Quote: science shows opposite tendencies towards unity--simplicity and diversity--complication

Quotation

Two opposite tendencies may be distinguished in the history of the development of physics. On the one hand, new relations are continually being discovered between objects which seemed destined to remain for ever unconnected ... The march of science is towards unity and simplicity. On the other hand, new phenomena are continually being revealed ... In the same way, we are continually perceiving details ever more varied in the phenomena we know ... What we thought to be simple becomes complex, and the march of science seems to be towards diversity and complication.   Google-1   Google-2

Published before 1923

Related Topics

Group: philosophy of science   (10 topics, 377 quotes)
Topic: handling complexity (59 items)