More articles like Feynman's Value of Science (1955)?

[crashcat]

I just read Feynman's The Value of Science and really appreciated his perspective. We generally value art, literature, and poetry but if you want to do science for the sake of science people take offense. It takes years to build a foundation before you can appreciate it, so the general public will never understand that it is beautiful and worth doing because of the grand feelings available to you which I think exceeds any other art, and because it is enjoyable for it's own sake. Ditto mathematics.

SO... anyone have more articles or books like this? On a sort of philosophy of science (that isn't what historians or philosophers mean when they write about the philosophy of science)? It can be broader than simply explaining an appreciation about science. I just want scientists writing about science.

 

[Hornbein]

I'm told that many pro athletes feel the same way.

 

[DaveE]

I just read Feynman's The Value of Science and really appreciated his perspective. We generally value art, literature, and poetry but if you want to do science for the sake of science people take offense. It takes years to build a foundation before you can appreciate it, so the general public will never understand that it is beautiful and worth doing because of the grand feelings available to you which I think exceeds any other art, and because it is enjoyable for it's own sake.

I hadn't seen this, thanks for posting the link.

I absolutely love this early paragraph:
"I believe that a scientist looking at non-scientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy - and when he talks about a non-scientific matter, he will sound as naive as anyone untrained in the matter. Since the question of the value of science is not a scientific subject, this talk is dedicated to proving my point - by example." - R. P. Feynman

I think he may have succeeded in this talk.

 

[robphy]

You might like
Feynman’s
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
(which also was written up into a book)

https://player.vimeo.com/video/340695809

See more at
https://www.christophersykesproductions.com/

 

[crashcat]

I'm told that many pro athletes feel the same way.

I can believe it. Maybe this is true of any high-skill deep thing.

 

[crashcat]

I found an article written by Poincaré in sometime before 1912, literally also called The Value of Science. The first paragraph mirrors Feynman, but then it diverges considerably. He describes how Truth is the only thing that is beautiful, and so the arduous search for it is worthwhile. Also, stuff like how the material world cannot be taken to be real, the only objective reality is the models of the material world shared by intelligent beings. He says that ethics and natural philosophy are two different things with no overlap, and they are both a search for truth. I was thinking this sounds Hermetic/Masonic… and I found a website claiming he was a Freemason. So maybe.

Poincare Value of Science
(scroll past the translator's introduction)