.jpg)
Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 6, No. 10 July 28, 1943
Science and Philosophy
Science and Philosophy
The interested were treated to a thoroughly worth-while lecture when they went to hear Mr. Whittlestone speak on Philosophical Aspects of Modern Science. The lecture was one of the series arranged by the Exec, and took place in A.2 on Thursday, July 22, at 8 p.m.
The main points of the address were:
| 1. | The intimate relation between theory and practice. |
| 2. | We live in a material world, in which everything is in a state of change. |
| 3. | All things are inter-related and observation may, by introducing a new relation, alter the thing studied. |
| 4. | There exists in nature an equilibrium between opposite factors—they are united by this equilibrium. |
| 5. | New qualities emerge by sudden leaps and not by gradual changes. Quantitative changes bring about sudden qualitative differences, e.g., heat on water. |
| 6. | The universe consists of a hierarchy of levels. |
These points were illustrated by a mass of scientific examples taken from chemistry, physics and biology, so much so, that to the untutored it might have appeared that the speaker was trying to "fool 'em with science."
The discussion which followed, however, dealt with extensions of these general ideas, not with limitations, so it appeared that even the non-science students in the audience were well satisfied.
•