Scientific ThoughtK. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Company, Limited, 1923 - 553 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Absolute Theory act of sensing argument auditory sensa bits of matter body characteristic clock colour common-sense concepts constituent contemporary correlated course defined distance duration elliptical equations ether existence experiences fact finite fixed stars flash forces gravitation happen inertial mass judgment kinæsthetic sensations kind laws of motion literally mean measured Michelson-Morley experiment mind momentary spaces movement-continuum moving nature Newtonian frame non-Newtonian non-uniform observer optical object optically occupied particle penny perceive perceptible perceptual object physical events physical objects physical Space-Time Pickwickian plane platform points position Principle of Relativity qualities question Relational Theory relative motion respect rest resting physical retina rotation sense fields sense-history sensible field sensum shape slices spatial Specious Present straight line successive fields suppose tactual sensa temporal relations Theory of Relativity time-lapse timeless space tions traditional true uniform sense-object velocity of light visual field visual sensa whilst whole world-lines
Popular passages
Page 488 - In medio ramos annosaque brachia pandit Ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia vulgo Vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent. Multaque praeterea variarum monstra ferarum, Centauri, in foribus stabulant, Scyllaeque biformes, Et centumgeminus Briareus, ac bellua Lernae Horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimaera, Gorgones Harpyiaeque et forma tricorporis umbrae.
Page 239 - The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility ! JACK That wouldn't be at all a bad thing.
Page 114 - Perhaps not," Alice cautiously replied: "but I know I have to beat time when I learn music." "Ah! that accounts for it," said the Hatter. "He won't stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose...
Page 53 - I think you might do something better with the time," she said, "than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.
Page 66 - It will be observed that such a theory as this accepts the reality of the present and the past, but holds that the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present. On the other hand, the essence of a present event is, not that it precedes future events, but that there is quite literally nothing to which it has the relation of precedence....
Page 26 - When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean —neither more nor less.' 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.
Page 239 - Whenever I truly judge that x appears to me to have the sensible quality q, what happens is that I am directly aware of a certain object y, which (a) really does have the quality q, and (b) stands in some peculiarly intimate relation, yet to be determined, to x.
Page 179 - What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators, Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines ? " So the Bellman would cry : and the crew would reply " They are merely conventional signs I Scalt of Miles.
Page 85 - ... people hope To see him through a microscope. His jointed tongue that lies beneath A hundred curious rows of teeth; His seven tufted tails with lots Of lovely pink and purple spots, On each of which a pattern stands, Composed of forty separate bands; His eyebrows of a tender green ; All these have never yet been seen But Scientists, who ought to know, Assure us that they must be so ... Oh ! let us never, never doubt What nobody is sure about!