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How do scientific conjectures become laws? Why does proof mean different things in different sciences? Do numbers exist, or were they invented? Why do some laws turn out to be wrong? In this wide-ranging book, Brian Davies discusses the basis for scientists' claims to knowledge about the world. He looks at science historically, emphasizing not only the achievements of scientists from Galileo onwards, but also their mistakes. He rejects the claim that all scientific knowledge is provisional, by citing examples from chemistry, biology and geology. A major feature of the book is its defence of the view that mathematics was invented rather than discovered. While experience has shown that disentangling knowledge from opinion and aspiration is a hard task, this book provides a clear guide to the difficulties.Full of illuminating examples and quotations, and with a scope ranging from psychology and evolution to quantum theory and mathematics, this book brings alive issues at the heart of all science.
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Science in the Looking Glass This page intentionally left blank Science in the Looking Glass What Do Scientists Really Know? E. Brian Davies Department of Mathematics King’s College London 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press, 2003 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2003 First published in paperback 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, www.biddles.co.uk ISBN 978–0–19–852543–1 (Hbk.) ISBN 978–0–19–921918–6 (Pbk.) 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Preface Almost every month some book or television programme describes exciting developments in cosmology or fundamental physics. Many tell us that we are on the verge of finding the explanation for the Big Bang or the ultimate Theory of Everything. These will explain all physics in one fundamental set of mathematical equations. It is easy to be swept along by the obvious enthusiasm of the participants, particularly when they are making real progress in pushing back the boundaries of knowledge. Unfortunately, most of their brilliant new ideas are doomed to be forgotten, if only because they cannot all be right. Consider the currently fashionable idea that our universe is just one of many unobservable, parallel universes, all equally real.