The Only Way To Test A Hypothesis

I See Now More Clearly Than Ever Before That Even Our Greatest Troubles Spring From Something That Is [as] Admirable And Sound As It Is Dangerous – From Our Impatience To Better The Lot Of Our Fellows.

Is The World Ruled By Strict Laws Or Not? This Question I Regard As Metaphysical. The Laws We Find Are Always Hypotheses; Which Means That They May Always Be Superseded, And That They May Possibly Be Deduced From Probability Estimates. Yet Denying Causality Would Be The Same As Attempting To Persuade The Theorist To Give Up His Search; And That Such An Attempt Cannot Be Backed By Anything Like A Proof.

Unlimited Tolerance Must Lead To The Disappearance Of Tolerance. If We Extend Unlimited Tolerance Even To Those Who Are Intolerant, If We Are Not Prepared To Defend A Tolerant Society, Then The Tolerant Will Be Destroyed, And Tolerance With Them. We Should Therefore Claim, In The Name Of Tolerance, The Right Not To Tolerate The Intolerant.

The History Of Science, Like The History Of All Human Ideas, Is A History Of Irresponsible Dreams, Of Obstinacy, And Of Error.

The Method Of Science Depends On Our Attempts To Describe The World With Simple Theories: Theories That Are Complex May Become Untestable, Even If They Happen To Be True. Science May Be Described As The Art Of Systematic Over-simplification-the Art Of Discerning What We May With Advantage Omit.