Quantum theory: Niels Bohr (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, July 13, 2013, 12:32 (4152 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID [re Niels Bohr]: A history of a founding father:-http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/351277/description/When_the_atom_went_quantum-QUOTE: "The primary payoff of his engagement with quantum physics for his wider philosophy was the discovery that multiple truths come ... in complementary pairs," Heilbron said.-Bohr's thoughts on truth have recently been illuminated by newly available correspondence with his fiancée, Margrethe Nørlund, during his work on the atom model. Heilbron cited one letter in which Bohr discusses the different sorts of truths expressed in sermons, great works of literature, and science. The truths of one's personal sympathies, the universal human truths of literature and scientific truths all differ in kind, but are all important, Bohr wrote. "It's something I feel very strongly about, I can almost call it my religion, that I think that everything that is of value is true.""-Bohr was apparently an atheist, which is not altogether clear from the fact that he "soon concluded that religion as taught could not withstand scrutiny in the context of logic and science". I'm not sure whether all the above withstands philosophical scrutiny without clear definitions of "truth", "value" and "importance", but it seems to me to tie in with what I have just posted to 3DJ under "Huxley". Whatever "truth" may be, we should not assume that science has a monopoly on it.