|
The Latin maxim ''ignoramus et ignorabimus'', meaning "we do not know and will not know", stood for a position on the limits of scientific knowledge, in the thought of the nineteenth century. It was given credibility by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, in his ''Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens'' ("On the limits of our understanding of nature") of 1872. == Hilbert's reaction == On the 8th of September 1930, the mathematician David Hilbert pronounced his disagreement in a celebrated address to the Society of German Scientists and Physicians, in Königsberg:〔Hilbert, David, (audio address ), (transcription and English translation ).〕 Previously, at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1900 in Paris he said: "In mathematics there is no ''ignorabimus''." Hilbert worked with other formalists to establish concrete foundations for mathematics in the early 20th century. However, Gödel's incompleteness theorems showed in 1931 that no finite system of axioms, if complex enough to express our usual arithmetic, could ever fulfill the goals of Hilbert's program, demonstrating many of Hilbert's aims impossible, and specifying limits on most axiomatic systems. == Seven World Riddles == Emil du Bois-Reymond used ''ignoramus et ignorabimus'' in discussing what he called seven "world riddles", in a famous 1880 speech before the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He outlined seven "world riddles", of which three, he declared, neither science nor philosophy could ever explain, because they are "transcendent". Of the riddles, he considered the following transcendental and declared of them ''ignoramus et ignorabimus:''〔William E. Leverette Jr., ''E. L. Youmans' Crusade for Scientific Autonomy and Respectability'', American Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 1. (Spring, 1965), pg. 21.〕 "1. the ultimate nature of matter and force, 2. the origin of motion, ... 5. the origin of simple sensations, a quite transcendent question." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ignoramus et ignorabimus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|