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1、UNIVERSITYOFDURHAMRIDDELLMEMORIALLECTURESEighteenthSeriesSCIENCE,FAITHANDSOCIETYBYMICHAELPOLANYIGEOFFREYCUMBERLEGEOXFORDUNIVERSITYPRESSLONDON1946OXFORDUNIVERSITYPRESSAllINHOUSE,E.C.4-LondonEdinburghGlasgowNewYorkTorontoMelbourneCapeTownBombayCalcuttaMadrasGEOFFREYCUMBERLEGEPUBLIS
2、HERTOTHEUNIVERSITYPRJNTBDINGRBATBRITAINtoD.M.E.CONTENTSI.ScienceandReality7II.AuthorityandConscience28III.DedicationorServitude49APPENDIXI.PremissesofScience712.SignificanceofNewObservations753·CorrespondencewithObservation78SCIENCE,FAITHANDSOCIETYISHALLre-examineherethesuppositi
3、onsunderlyingourbeliefinscienceandproposetoshowthattheyaremoreextensivethanisusuallythought.Theywillappeartoco•extendwiththeentirespiritualfoundationsofmanandtogototheveryrootofhissocialexistence.Hence,Iwillurge,ourbeliefinscienceshouldberegardedasatokenofmuchwiderconvictions.ISC
4、IENCEANDREALITYIWhatisthenatureofscience?Givenanyamountofex•perience,canscientificpropositionsbederivedfromitbytheapplicationofsomeexplicitrulesofprocedure?Letuslimitourselvesforthesakeofsimplicitytotheexactsciencesandconvenientlyassumethatallrelevantexperienceisgivenusintheformo
5、fnumericalmeasurements;sothatwearepresentedwithalistoffiguresrepresentingpositions,masses,times,velocities,wavelengths,etc.,fromwhichwehavetoderivesomemathematicallawofnature.Couldwedothatbytheapplicationofdefiniteoperations?Certainlynot.Grantedforthesakeofargumentthatwecoulddisc
6、oversomehowwhichofthefigurescanbeconnectedsothatonegroupdeterminestheother;therewouldbeaninfinitenumberofmathematicalfunctionsavailablefortherepresentationoftheformerintermsofthelatter.Therearemanyformsofmathematicalseries-suchaspowerseries,harmonicseries,etc.-eachofwhichcanbeuse
7、dinaninfinitevarietyoffashionstoapproxi•matetheexistingrelationshipbetweenanygivensetofnumeri•caldatatoanydesireddegree.Neveryethasadefiniterulebeenlaiddownbywhichanyparticularmathematicalfunctioncanberecognized,amongtheinfinitenumberofthoseofferingthemselvesforchoice,astheonewhi
8、chexpressesanaturallaw.Itistruethateacho