Is science compatible with Anthroposophy? Is Anthroposophy compatible with science? I submit that this view, presented by Richard Feynman as a practicing physicist, is fully compatible with Rudolf Steiner‘s view. To quote from the last paragraph: “…to stand with the fundamental laws, hoping that way to get a deep understanding of the whole world, with that aspect alone, is a mistake.”
From:
http://www.collectedthoughts.com/oldsite/quotes/0110-118.html
Which End Is Closer To God?
“For example, at one end we have the fundamental laws of physics. … Heat is supposed to be jiggling, and the word for a hot thing is just the word for a mass of atoms which are jiggling. But for a while, if we are talking about heat, we sometimes forget about the atoms jiggling- just as when we talk about the glacier we do not always think of the hexagonal ice and the snowflakes which originally fell. … On, up in the hierarchy. With the water we have waves, and we have a thing like a storm, the word “storm” which represents an enormous mass of phenomena? And then we go on, and we come to words and concepts like “man”, and “history”, or “political expediency”, and so forth, a series of concepts which we use to understand things at an ever higher level. And going on, we come to things like evil, and beauty, and hope… Which end is nearer to God, if I may use a religious metaphor, beauty and hope, or the fundamental laws? I do not think either end is nearer to God. To stand at either end, and to walk off that end of the pier only, hoping that out in that direction is the complete understanding, is a mistake. And to stand with evil and beauty and hope, or to stand with the fundamental laws, hoping that way to get a deep understanding of the whole world, with that aspect alone, is a mistake.”
Richard P. Feynman, “The Character of Physical Law”. Chapter 5. 1965.
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