"A geometrical-physical theory as such is incapable of being directly pictured, being merely a system of concepts. But these concepts serve the purpose of bringing a multiplicity of real or imaginary sensory experiences into connection in the mind. To ‘visualise’ a theory, or bring it home to one's mind, therefore means to give a representation to that abundance of experiences for which the theory supplies the schematic arrangement" (Albert Einstein, "Geometry and Experience", 1921)
"A system of philosophy, or metaphysics, is a union of a world view and a life view in one harmonious, complete, integral conception. In so far as any man strives to attain, by rational inquiry, a consistent and comprehensive view of life and reality, he is a metaphysician." (Joseph Alexander Leighton, "Man and the Cosmos - An introduction to Metaphysics", 1922)
"Mathematics, or the science of magnitudes, is that system which studies the quantitative relations between things; logic, or the science of concepts, is that system which studies the qualitative (categorical) relations between things." (Peter D Ouspensky, "Tertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought; a Key to the Enigmas of the World", 1922)
"The axioms and provable theorems (i.e. the formulas that arise in this alternating game [namely formal deduction and the adjunction of new axioms]) are images of the thoughts that make up the usual procedure of traditional mathematics; but they are not themselves the truths in the absolute sense. Rather, the absolute truths are the insights (Einsichten) that my proof theory furnishes into the provability and the consistency of these formal systems." (David Hilbert; "Die logischen Grundlagen der Mathematik." Mathematische Annalen 88 (1), 1923)
"Man begins to appear for the first time in the history of thought as an irrelevant spectator and insignificant effect of the great mathematical system which is the substance of reality." (Edwin A Burtt, "The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical", 1924)
"In terms of the quantum theory, a system is defined as a collection of bands corresponding to a common transition between two major electron levels. Sets of bands in a system can be selected such that the frequency intervals between successive bands in the set change in an arithmetic progression. These sets can be chosen in two different ways, the frequency intervals increasing in opposite directions in the two sets." (Raymond T Birgg,"Electronic bands", Bulletin of the National Research Council Vol 11, 1926)
"Observed facts must be built up, woven together, ordered, arranged, systematized into conclusions and theories by reflection and reason, if they are to have full bearing on life and the universe. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. Wisdom is the establishment of relations. And just because the latter process is delicate and perilous, it is all the more delightful." (Gamaliel Bradford, "Darwin", 1926)
"It is unreasonable to expect science to produce a system of ethics - ethics are a kind of highway code for traffic among mankind - and the fact that in physics atoms which were yesterday assumed to be square are now assumed to be round is exploited with unjustified tendentiousness by all who are hungry for faith; so long as physics extends our dominion over nature, these changes ought to be a matter of complete indifference to you." (Sigmund Freud, [Letter to Oskar Pfister] 1928)
"Since the fundamental character of the living thing is its organization, the customary investigation of the single parts and processes cannot provide a complete explanation of the vital phenomena. This investigation gives us no information about the coordination of parts and processes. Thus, the chief task of biology must be to discover the laws of biological systems (at all levels of organization). We believe that the attempts to find a foundation for theoretical biology point at a fundamental change in the world picture. This view, considered as a method of investigation, we shall call ‘organismic biology’ and, as an attempt at an explanation, ‘the system theory of the organism’" (Ludwig von Bertalanffy, "Kritische Theorie der Formbildung", 1928)
"[Philosophy] has tried to combine acceptance of the conclusions of scientific inquiry as to the natural world with the acceptance of doctrines about the nature of mind and knowledge which originated before there was such a thing as systematic experimental inquiry. Between the two there is an inherent incompatibility." (John Dewey, "Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action", 1929)
"[…] to the scientific mind the living and the non-living form one continuous series of systems of differing degrees of complexity […], while to the philosophic mind the whole universe, itself perhaps an organism, is composed of a vast number of interlacing organisms of all sizes." (James G Needham, "Developments in Philosophy of Biology", Quarterly Review of Biology Vol. 3 (1), 1928)
"Order is not sufficient. What is required, is something much more complex. It is order entering upon novelty; so that the massiveness of order does not degenerate into mere repetition; and so that the novelty is always reflected upon a background of system." (Alfred N Whitehead, "Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology", 1929)
"Our system of philosophy is itself on trial; it must stand or fall according as it is broad enough to find room for this experience as an element of life." (Sir Arthur S Eddington, "Science and the Unseen World", 1929)
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