SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Abstract

THIS is a small book on a very large subject, and it would be unreasonable to expect any comprehensive or fundamental discussion in three lectures. What the author gives us is interesting enough, though the reader must often find himself asking questions which in these pages at least have no answer. The second lecture, which is on the subject of human freedom and physical law, is a lucid and valuable statement of an argument for freedom. Dr. Compton does not allege that modern developments of physics can be used as an argument to establish the reality of freedom, but he does hold, and surely with good ground, that the argument in favour of determinism which was based on the alleged universality of natural law no longer possesses its ancient cogency. The newer quantum mechanics are “consistent with the postulate of freedom”. There is no discussion of the meaning of freedom, but it appears to be identified with the “effectiveness of purpose” as in the following sentence: “My experience of the effectiveness of purpose is more direct and cogent than any logical argument based upon scientific generalizations”.

The Human Meaning of Science

By Arthur H. Compton. (John Calvin McNair Lectures.) Pp. xiv + 88. (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1940.) 6s.