On Logic (1950-1959)

"Every bit of knowledge we gain and every conclusion we draw about the universe or about any part or feature of it depends finally upon some observation or measurement. Mankind has had again and again the humiliating experience of trusting to intuitive, apparently logical conclusions without observations, and has seen Nature sail by in her radiant chariot of gold in an entirely different direction." (Oliver J Lee, "Measuring Our Universe: From the Inner Atom to Outer Space", 1950)

"Automata have begun to invade certain parts of mathematics too, particularly but not exclusively mathematical physics or applied mathematics. The natural systems (e.g., central nervous system) are of enormous complexity and it is clearly necessary first to subdivide what they represent into several parts that to a certain extent are independent, elementary units. The problem then consists of understanding how these elements are organized as a whole. It is the latter problem which is likely to attract those who have the background and tastes of the mathematician or a logician. With this attitude, he will be inclined to forget the origins and then, after the process of axiomatization is complete, concentrate on the mathematical aspects." (John Von Neumann, "The General and Logical Theory of Automata", 1951)

"The act of discovery escapes logical analysis; there are no logical rules in terms of which a 'discovery machine' could be constructed that would take over the creative function of the genius. But it is not the logician’s task to account for scientific discoveries; all he can do is to analyze the relation between given facts and a theory presented to him with the claim that it explains these facts. In other words, logic is concerned with the context of justification." (Hans Reichenbach, "The Rise of Scientific Philosophy", 1951)

"Without facts we have no science. Facts are to the scientist what words are to the poet. The scientist has a love of facts, even isolated facts, similar to a poet’s love of words. But a collection of facts is not a science any more than a dictionary is poetry. Around his facts the scientist weaves a logical pattern or theory which gives the facts meaning, order and significance." (Isidor Isaac Rabi, "Faith in Science", Atlantic Monthly , Vol. 187, 1951)

"In mathematics […] we find two tendencies present. On the one hand, the tendency towards abstraction seeks to crystallise the logical relations inherent in the maze of materials [….] being studied, and to correlate the material in a systematic and orderly manner. On the other hand, the tendency towards intuitive understanding fosters a more immediate grasp of the objects one studies, a live rapport with them, so to speak, which stresses the concrete meaning of their relations." (David Hilbert, "Geometry and the imagination", 1952)

"Statistics is the fundamental and most important part of inductive logic. It is both an art and a science, and it deals with the collection, the tabulation, the analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative measurements. It is concerned with the classifying and determining of actual attributes as well as the making of estimates and the testing of various hypotheses by which probable, or expected, values are obtained. It is one of the means of carrying on scientific research in order to ascertain the laws of behavior of things - be they animate or inanimate. Statistics is the technique of the Scientific Method." (Bruce D Greenschieldsw & Frank M Weida, "Statistics with Applications to Highway Traffic Analyses", 1952)

"Logic and truth are two very different things, but they often look the same to the mind that’s performing the logic. " (Theodore Sturgeon, "More Than Human", 1953)

"Mathematicians create by acts of insight and intuition. Logic then sanctions the conquests of intuition. It is the hygiene that mathematics practice to keep its ideas healthy and strong. Moreover, the whole structure rests fundamentally on uncertain ground, the intuitions of man." (Morris Kline, "Mathematics in Western Culture", 1953)

"The construction of hypotheses is a creative act of inspiration, intuition, invention; its essence is the vision of something new in familiar material. The process must be discussed in psychological, not logical, categories; studied in autobiographies and biographies, not treatises on scientific method; and promoted by maxim and example, not syllogism or theorem." (Milton Friedman, "Essays in Positive Economics", 1953)

"The word 'definition' has come to have a dangerously reassuring sound, owing no doubt to its frequent occurrence in logical and mathematical writings." (Willard van Orman Quine, "From a Logical Point of View", 1953)

"[…] the grand aim of all science […] is to cover the greatest possible number of empirical facts by logical deductions from the smallest possible number of hypotheses or axioms." (Albert Einstein, 1954)

"The theory of relativity is a fine example of the fundamental character of the modern development of theoretical science. The initial hypotheses become steadily more abstract and remote from experience. On the other hand, it gets nearer to the grand aim of all science, which is to cover the greatest possible number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest possible number of hypotheses or axioms." (Albert Einstein, 1954)

"[…] no branch of mathematics competes with projective geometry in originality of ideas, coordination of intuition in discovery and rigor in proof, purity of thought, logical finish, elegance of proofs and comprehensiveness of concepts. The science born of art proved to be an art." (Morris Kline, "Projective Geometry", Scientific America Vol. 192 (1), 1955)

"Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure." (Albert Einstein, "Autobiographische Skizze", 1955)

"The creative act owes little to logic or reason. In their accounts of the circumstances under which big ideas occurred to them, mathematicians have often mentioned that the inspiration had no relation to the work they happened to be doing. Sometimes it came while they were traveling, shaving or thinking about other matters. The creative process cannot be summoned at will or even cajoled by sacrificial offering. Indeed, it seems to occur most readily when the mind is relaxed and the imagination roaming freely." (Morris Kline, Scientific American, 1955)

"Because intuition turned out to be deceptive in so many instances, and because propositions that had been accounted true by intuition were repeatedly proved false by logic, mathematicians became more and more skeptical of intuition. [….] Thus, a demand arose for the expulsion of intuitive reasoning and for the complete formalization of mathematics." (Hans Hahn, "The crisis in intuition", 1956)

"Nevertheless, there are three distinct types of paradoxes which do arise in mathematics. There are contradictory and absurd propositions, which arise from fallacious reasoning. There are theorems which seem strange and incredible, but which, because they are logically unassailable, must be accepted even though they transcend intuition and imagination. The third and most important class consists of those logical paradoxes which arise in connection with the theory of aggregates, and which have resulted in a re-examination of the foundations of mathematics." (James R Newman, "The World of Mathematics" Vol. III, 1956)

"Out of our image we predict the messages which will return to us as a result of our acts.  If this prediction is fulfilled the image is confirmed, if it is not fulfilled the image must be changed.  This is the essence of the logical-positivist view that definitions must be operational and hypotheses must be testable as an open system of a very different and much more complex character than that of the biological organism." (Kenneth E Boulding, "The Image: Knowledge in life and society", 1956)

"The essential vision of reality presents us not with fugitive appearances but with felt patterns of order which have coherence and meaning for the eye and for the mind. Symmetry, balance and rhythmic sequences express characteristics of natural phenomena: the connectedness of nature - the order, the logic, the living process. Here art and science meet on common ground." (Gyorgy Kepes, "The New Landscape: In Art and Science", 1956)

"When the mathematician says that such and such a proposition is true of one thing, it may be interesting, and it is surely safe. But when he tries to extend his proposition to everything, though it is much more interesting, it is also much more dangerous. In the transition from one to all, from the specific to the general, mathematics has made its greatest progress, and suffered its most serious setbacks, of which the logical paradoxes constitute the most important part. For, if mathematics is to advance securely and confidently it must first set its affairs in order at home." (James R Newman, "The World of Mathematics" Vol. III, 1956)

"By some definitions 'systems engineering' is suggested to be a new discovery. Actually it is a common engineering approach which has taken on a new and important meaning because of the greater complexity and scope of problems to be solved in industry, business, and the military. Newly discovered scientific phenomena, new machines and equipment, greater speed of communications, increased production capacity, the demand for control over ever-extending areas under constantly changing conditions, and the resultant complex interactions, all have created a tremendously accelerating need for improved systems engineering. Systems engineering can be complex, but is simply defined as 'logical engineering within physical, economic and technical limits'  - bridging the gap from fundamental laws to a practical operating system." (Instrumentation Technology, 1957)

"Probability is a mathematical discipline with aims akin to those, for example, of geometry or analytical mechanics. In each field we must carefully distinguish three aspects of the theory: (a) the formal logical content, (b) the intuitive background, (c) the applications. The character, and the charm, of the whole structure cannot be appreciated without considering all three aspects in their proper relation." (William Feller, "An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications", 1957)

"Systems engineering embraces every scientific and technical concept known, including economics, management, operations, maintenance, etc. It is the job of integrating an entire problem or problem to arrive at one overall answer, and the breaking down of this answer into defined units which are selected to function compatibly to achieve the specified objectives. [...] Instrument and control engineering is but one aspect of systems engineering - a vitally important and highly publicized aspect, because the ability to create automatic controls within overall systems has made it possible to achieve objectives never before attainable, While automatic controls are vital to systems which are to be controlled, every aspect of a system is essential. Systems engineering is unbiased, it demands only what is logically required. Control engineers have been the leaders in pulling together a systems approach in the various technologies." (Instrumentation Technology, 1957)

"The function of mathematical logic is to reveal and codify the logical processes employed in mathematical reasoning and to clarify the concepts of mathematics; it is itself a branch of mathematics, employing mathematical symbolism and technique, a branch which has developed in its entirety during the past hundred years and which in its vigor and fecundity and the power and importance of its discoveries may well claim to be in the forefront of modern mathematics." (Reuben L Goodstein, "Mathematical Logic", 1957)

"The ultimate origin of the difficulty lies in the fact (or philosophical principle) that we are compelled to use the words of common language when we wish to describe a phenomenon, not by logical or mathematical analysis, but by a picture appealing to the imagination. Common language has grown by everyday experience and can never surpass these limits. Classical physics has restricted itself to the use of concepts of this kind; by analysing visible motions it has developed two ways of representing them by elementary processes; moving particles and waves. There is no other way of giving a pictorial description of motions - we have to apply it even in the region of atomic processes, where classical physics breaks down." (Max Born, "Atomic Physics", 1957)

"[…] observation and theory are woven together, and it is futile to attempt their complete separation. Observation always involve theory. Pure theory may be found in mathematics, but seldom in science. Mathematics, it has been said, deals with possible worlds - logically consistent systems. Science attempts to discover the actual world we inhabit. So in cosmology, theory presents an infinite array of possible universes, and observation is eliminating them, class by class, until now the different types among which our particular universe must be included have become increasingly comprehensible." (Edwin P Hubble, "The Realm of the Nebulae", 1958)

"A logic machine is a device, electrical or mechanical, designed specifically for solving problems in formal logic. A logic diagram is a geometrical method for doing the same thing. […] A logic diagram is a two-dimensional geometric figure with spatial relations that are isomorphic with the structure of a logical statement. These spatial relations are usually of a topological character, which is not surprising in view of the fact that logic relations are the primitive relations underlying all deductive reasoning and topological properties are, in a sense, the most fundamental properties of spatial structures. Logic diagrams stand in the same relation to logical algebras as the graphs of curves stand in relation to their algebraic formulas; they are simply other ways of symbolizing the same basic structure." (Martin Gardner, "Logic Machines and Diagrams", 1958)

"It is sometimes said of two expositions of one and the same mathematical proof that the one is simpler or more elegant than the other. This is a distinction which has little interest from the point of view of the theory of knowledge; it does not fall within the province of logic, but merely indicates a preference of an aesthetic or pragmatic character." (Karl Popper, "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", 1959)

"Mathematics is neither a description of nature nor an explanation of its operation; it is not concerned with physical motion or with the metaphysical generation of quantities. It is merely the symbolic logic of possible relations, and as such is concerned with neither approximate nor absolute truth, but only with hypothetical truth. That is, mathematics determines what conclusions will follow logically from given premises. The conjunction of mathematics and philosophy, or of mathematics and science is frequently of great service in suggesting new problems and points of view." (Carl B Boyer, "The History of the Calculus and Its Conceptual Development", 1959)

"The statistics themselves prove nothing; nor are they at any time a substitute for logical thinking. There are […] many simple but not always obvious snags in the data to contend with. Variations in even the simplest of figures may conceal a compound of influences which have to be taken into account before any conclusions are drawn from the data." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"There is a logic of language and a logic of mathematics. The former is supple and lifelike, it follows our experience. The latter is abstract and rigid, more ideal. The latter is perfectly necessary, perfectly reliable: the former is only sometimes reliable and hardly ever systematic. But the logic of mathematics achieves necessity at the expense of living truth, it is less real than the other, although more certain. It achieves certainty by a flight from the concrete into abstraction." (Thomas Merton, "The Secular Journal of Thomas Merton", 1959)