Asking Questions

 

At the end of a fairly long life as a scientist, in industry and academia , and as a part-time painter of very modest success, I have come to distrust much  inherited  wisdom, and question its provenance in doubtful metaphysics. I have also certainly come to realise that the asking of the right questions is central to obtaining some eventual answers. I have been particularly attracted to the question of how, when we only have one brain, and most of us, only one language, we can engage in very diverse Intellectual activities. This is more than a personal dilemma, for there is no doubt that the earlier questions raised about Two Cultures, by CP Snow over 50 years ago, still remain unresolved. In fact, there is still very active antagonism between the arts and science. I therefore propose that we pose some questions, some of which challenge certain traditional ideas. I hope that eventually some greater convergence between these two poles of intellectual activity might appear, resulting in some new doors being opened. I think we should look at things 'as they are', invoking our own personal experience, and not be too concerned about inherited wisdom. I feel also that one of the most useful pieces of advice to have been handed down by philosophy, is Occam's Razor - Entities should not be multiplied without necessity.  I say this because it has alway worried me that psychologists and philosophers have created a vast literature on human nature, in terms of countless obscure theories, couched in impenetrable language, on the one subject of which we all have some personal experience, and that  I, as a reasonably well-educated and informed person, have difficulty understanding.

 

 Frank Evans