Philosophy and Science

One of the things I've particularly noticed and in some ways regretted, being a college student, is the incredible race for time. Time seems to assume dominance, sometimes even over what we study. This is obviously not what is probably intended when we're burdened with assignments, reading materials and tests. Yet, with most students, and i speak for myself, this eventually is what ends up being the case.

Isaac Asimov in his essay, "The Nature of Science," states that "it is not as important to save time and effort as to enjoy the time and effort spent. Why else should a man rise before dawn and go out in the damp to fish, waiting happily all day for the occasional twitch of his line, when without getting out of bed, he might have telephoned the market and ordered all the fish he wanted." In saying so, Asimov argues, that without the effort of learning about the history and past of science one cannot savor the completeness of learning science.

Perhaps, history does play an important role. And I certainly do agree that learning about the history of scientific thought does fill in a big missing piece. But really, is this effort we're actually looking at when it comes to learning about the history of scientific thought?

In other words, is it really the fact that we've put in a lot of effort to study the historical reference to a certain concept, that adds to the "joy" of science? I would certainly be skeptic when considering that as being true. I feel history is an important aspect of anything. The reason being that it leaves behind a map that has imprints of all the paths that have been followed before we've reached where we are today so we avoid those methods which have failed before.

However, the past should not restrict our thoughts for today. It is absolutely possible that certain trains of thought disregarded in the past may be actually useful today. For that reason, the journey that is the history of science helps us experience the evolution of science and understand the thought processes that help form the present face of science.

History is a valuable way of experiencing decades of human thought, development and ideas in a matter of just a few pages. And this experience is what is rewarding and what contributes towards providing the wholesome understanding of science. Not the effort on its own.