Religion and Science
2. The Views of Bertrand Russell
~ 30 ~
After an extensive study, he came to the conclusion
that much too much emphasis had been laid upon
experience, and that, therefore, empiricism as a
philosophy must be regarded as having important
limitations (p. 191). He goes on to say: “I found that
almost all philosophers had been mistaken as to
what can and what cannot be inferred from
experience alone” (p. 194).
Later he adds:
Unfortunately, theoretical physics no longer
speaks with that splendid dogmatic clarity
that it enjoyed in the seventeenth century.
Newton worked with four fundamental
concepts: space, time, matter and force. All
four have been swept into limbo by modern
physicists. Space and time, for Newton, were
solid, independent things. They have been
replaced by space-time, which is not
substantial but only a system of relations.
Matter has had to be replaced by series of
events. Force, which was the first of the
Newtonian concepts to be abandoned, has
been replaced by energy; and energy turns
