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Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconceptions: A Critique of Contemporary Scientism QUOTES

Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconceptions: A Critique of Contemporary Scientism QUOTES

1 " Yes, it is indeed by way of the mathematical forms that the physicist gains knowledge of the external world; Eddington's point, however, is that the forms in question have been artificially imposed: "The mathematics is not there until we put it there." And it is for this reason, and in this sense, that our knowledge of mathematical structures—our knowledge of the physical world!—is said to be subjective. "

― Wolfgang Smith , Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconceptions: A Critique of Contemporary Scientism

2 " The so-called physical universe—"the world so described"—turns out to be constituted by mathematical structures which we ourselves have imposed; in a word, it proves to be "man-made." Yet this way of putting it is also misleading; for inasmuch as physical knowledge is partly objective, "the world so described" must be "partly objective" as well. One is left with a curiously equivocal conception, which may enlighten the wise but is bound to deceive the unwary "

― Wolfgang Smith , Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconceptions: A Critique of Contemporary Scientism

3 " I find it surprising that [Eddington] seems not to recognize the incongruity of sitting on [a chair described as] an aggregate of quantum particles, especially after we have been told that these aggregates are 'partly subjective': how can one sit on a 'partly subjective' chair? And for that matter, how can one sit on a 'mathematical structure'? My colleagues in mathematics would find this hard to comprehend. What is missing in mathematical structures, of course, is *substance*: the very thing that has been 'filtered out' by the physicist. A chair without substance, it turns out, cannot be sat upon. "

― Wolfgang Smith , Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconceptions: A Critique of Contemporary Scientism