We Do Not Master A Scientific Theory

Who Of Us Would Not Be Glad To Lift The Veil Behind Which The Future Lies Hidden; To Cast A Glance At The Next Advances Of Our Science And At The Secrets Of Its Development During Future Centuries? What Particular Goals Will There Be Toward Which The Leading Mathematical Spirits Of Coming Generations Will Strive? What New Methods And New Facts In The Wide And Rich Field Of Mathematical Thought Will The New Centuries Disclose?

Mathematics Is A Presuppositionless Science. To Found It I Do Not Need God, As Does Kronecker, Or The Assumption Of A Special Faculty Of Our Understanding Attuned To The Principle Of Mathematical Induction, As Does Poincaré, Or The Primal Intuition Of Brouwer, Or, Finally, As Do Russell And Whitehead, Axioms Of Infinity, Reducibility, Or Completeness, Which In Fact Are Actual, Contentual Assumptions That Cannot Be Compensated For By Consistency Proofs.

How Thoroughly It Is Ingrained In Mathematical Science That Every Real Advance Goes Hand In Hand With The Invention Of Sharper Tools And Simpler Methods Which, At The Same Time, Assist In Understanding Earlier Theories And In Casting Aside Some More Complicated Developments.

One Hears A Lot Of Talk About The Hostility Between Scientists And Engineers. I Don't Believe In Any Such Thing. In Fact I Am Quite Certain It Is Untrue... There Cannot Possibly Be Anything In It Because Neither Side Has Anything To Do With The Other.

For Us There Is No Ignorabimus, And In My Opinion None Whatever In Natural Science. In Opposition To The Foolish Ignorabimus Our Slogan Shall Be: "we Must Know - We Will Know!"