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Natural Philosophy and Human Cultures
| Article
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11335 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1986 |
3,848 Words |
| Author
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Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr (1885-1962) was a central figure in the development
of modern physics. He received the Nobel Prize in 1922 for
the development of a model of the atom with quantum energy
levels. See the related story on page 269. |
It is with great hesitation that I have accepted the kind invitation to address this assembly of distinguished representatives of the anthropological and ethnographical sciences of which I, as a physicist, have of course no firsthand knowledge. Still, on this special occasion when even the historical surroundings speak to every one of us about aspects of life other than those discussed at the regular congress proceedings, it might perhaps be of interest to try with a few words to draw your attention to the epistemological aspect of the latest development of natural philosophy and its bearing on general human problems. Notwithstanding the great separation between our different branches of knowledge, the new lesson which has been impressed upon physicists regarding the caution with which all usual conventions must be applied as soon as we are not concerned with everyday experience may, indeed, be suited to remind us in a novel way of the dangers, well known to humanists, of judging from our own standpoint cultures developed within other societies.
Of course it is impossible to distinguish sharply between natural philosophy and human culture. The physical sciences are, in fact, an integral part of our civilization, not only because our ever-increasing mastery of the forces of nature has so completely changed the material conditions of life, but also because the study of these sciences has contributed so much to clarify the background of our own existence. What has it not meant in this respect that we no more consider ourselves to be privileged in we no more consider ourselves to be privileged in living at the center of the universe, surrounded by living at the center of the universe, surrounded by less fortunate societies inhabiting the edges of the abyss, but, through the development of astronomy and geography, have realized that we all share a small spherical planet of the solar system which again is only a small part of still larger systems. How forceful an admonition about the relativity of all human judgments have we not also in our days received through the renewed revision of the presuppositions underlying the unambiguous use of even our most elementary concepts such as space and time, which, in disclosing the essential dependence of every physical phenomenon on the standpoint of the observer, has contributed so largely to the unity and beauty of our whole worldpicture.
While the importance of these great achievements for our general outlook is commonly realized, it is hardly yet so as regards the unsuspected epistemological lesson which the opening of quite new realms of physical research has given us in the latest years. Our penetration into the world of atoms, hitherto closed to the eyes of man, is
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