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The discussion in his book centres on the question "What is truth?" Dr. Bell traces the story of man's search for the answer over a period of roughly 6000 years, from the time of the early Egyptians until the present. Very early there arose "doubts which trouble us to-day, and which, historically at least, are responsible for the advances of recent years . . .". Generally speaking, "we see four great peaks towering above the general level of profound or lofty speculation on the nature of truth. The first of these marks ancient Egypt, say 4241 B.C. to 1800 B.C.; the second, the early Greece of Pythagoras in the Sixth Century; the third, the invention in 1826 by Lobatchewsky of Non-Euclidean Geometry; and the fourth, rising in 1930, the creation, by Lucasiewicz and Tarski of strict deductive reasoning radically different from the traditional logic of Aristotle . . ."
E-Book Content
Eric Temple Bell
The Search for Truth
THE WILLIAMS & WILKINS COMPANY
"Pilate saith unto him, 'What is '!'ruth?'" -JOHN I8:J8
The Search for Truth 6y
Eric Temple Bell PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS CALIFORNIA
INSTITUTE
OF
TECHNOLOGY
MEMBER NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES PAST-PRESIDENT MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
THE WILLIAMS & WILKINS COMPANY BALTIMORE
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CoPYRIGHT, 1934
THE WILLIAMS & WILKINS COMPANY
Male
in IM U nilel Sidles of Allllrica
Second Printing, September,
COMPOSED AND P.RlNT itD
1935
AT THE
WAVERLY PRESS, INC. FOR
THE WILLIAKS
It
WILKINS COIIPANY
BALTIMORE,
KD.
C ONTENTS Vll
THANKS ! INTRODUCTION
Chapter I. LooKING FoRWARD JESTI NG PILATE. FUNDAMENTA L Q U E STIONS. DOES IT EXPAND ? FU RTH ER QUESTIONS. PRO S P ECT. Chapter II. CA S E HISTO RI ES GOD AND TH E ASTRONOMERS. MONKEYING WITH TIME. WHAT RAYLEIGH SAID. Chapter III. TH E GREAT PYRAMID
TOWARD CLOUDCUCKO O LAND. B. C. 42.4 1 . TH E EGYP TIAN MADNESS. TH EIR GOLDEN AGE. TH E GREATEST PYRAMID. Chapter IV. TH E ANCI ENT CAMBODIA NS A S ENSI B L E QU ESTION. WHO WERE TH E CAMBODIANS ? TH E S EARCH FOR TRUTH . Chapter V. TH E INFANT PRoDIGY WORDS O R WH E E LBARROWS ? WE ARE NOT AS THEY WERE. TH E GREEK VICE. Chapter VI. TH E TREATY oF CRoToN
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93 P P Ioo Chapter VII. ARALYZED AND ETRIFI ED ' PERPETUA L MOTION. TH E PYRAMID AGAI N . PLATO S H EAVEN. HOG-TI ED. I2.8 Chapter VIII. TH ROUGH TH E TuNN E L TH E A LEXANDRIAN LI B RARY. MODERN INSTANC E S . Chapter IX. BoGGED INTO TH E MORA S S . A BAD B ET. CALLIMACH U S LAUGHS . TH E PYRAMID YET AGAI N. v
C O NTE NTS
Vl
Chapter X .
EscA P E
I s6 ? R ETRO S PECT. EXPERIMENT OR EXPERIENCE GEOMETRY UNTIED. A P LAIN STATEMENT. YET AGAIN. Chapter XI. HEATH EN GoDs 1 75 A GREAT MORAL LESSON. BACON VERSUS A RISTOTLE. FA LSE GODS. Chapter XII. SciENCE A ND RELIGIO S ITY 1 86 ' MRS. STURTEVANT CODD. TH E ROSY O N E . OMAR S SOLUTION. 1 99 Chapter XIII. Ow CLO ' A MYSTERY. AN A PO LOGY. DO U BTS. VERBAL MAGIC. Chapter XIV. TH E GR EAT EMANCIPATO R 217 WHAT IS FAME ? PA RALLEL CENTAURS. TH E RUSSIAN R EVO LUTIO N XV. TH E FouRTH DIM ENSION
Chapter
2J I
A TOUCHSTO N E . A SANE B EGINNING. A MAD ENDING. HE DONE HER DIRT Chapter XVI. TH E LAST IDoL
TH E GRAND CATA LOGUE. TH E PIONE ER. SMASH ED. Chapter XVII. RETRO S P ECT
FOUR LANDMARKS. POS SIB ILITIES. WHAT IS AHEAD ? Chapter X VIII. TH E PRIESTHOOD oF SciENCE ' ISIS U NVEILED. AN EXPERT S OPINION. ADDENDA
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T H A NKS!
HE
pleasantest part of a writer's task is thanking those who have helped with their sympathy, encouragement, and