Abstract
THE time may come, When the Gates cease to ruggle, When the Danes hald in juggle And the Brides can write no more, that Lamarckian moonshine will no longer be adumbrated in terms of Hibernian green and questions as to the meaning of life will be discussed in language that has plain meaning. Awaiting that far-off day, we may ask: “What is the difference between a philosopher and a scientific man—can either, if there be two of them, be ‘as such’?” Mr. Bartrum would treat them as beings apart. The one term is Greek, the other Latin of sorts. The one is a man who has and uses knowledge, maybe makes it. The other is a lover of knowledge, of wisdom, but it is impossible to love without having and using and even seeking for an increase in return. Seeing that it is the business of the scientific man to know, truth is his clear concern in his every search. Faraday, the scientific man ‘par excellence’ in history, ever the seeker after truth and wisdom, definitely elected to call himself a philosopher; he also sought to use a clear language. Surely, our present need is to get rid of the ‘flossofer’ as such—the mere man of words, who but thinks he knows.
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INQUIRER Wisdom in Words. Nature 127, 166 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127166b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127166b0
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