Foreword - a tribute to Jean D'Alembert and Albert Einstein Geometrical interpretation of motion: an ironic legacy of apparently irreconcilable atomistic and continuum philosophies

摘要

The developments in late 16th and the 17th centuries finally brought science into conflict with religion. Prior to Galileo it was difficult to separate science from religion, as the roots to the former was established within the framework dictated by the latter. Science prior to the aforementioned period was constrained by the prevailing religious interpretations, which presumes the pre-ordinance of all natural phenomena. In this manner investigation of natural phenomena was perceived as a quest for the understanding of the will of the creator and to remain in accord with it, whilst making use of the gained understanding to make modest technological advances. No understanding, however, could repudiate the sanctity of the laws embodied in the holy scriptures or indeed the wisdom of those who were the guardians of it. Science, nevertheless did progress within this constrained climate of investigation due to the inherent curiosity of the human mind. This progress was, however, rather slow and due to the imposed constraints often encountered retrograding loops (i.e. a backward trend rather similar to the apparent motion of the outer solar system planets as viewed from the Earth by Galileo and his contemporaries such as Brahe). Physics, described by Aristotle as the study of natural philosophy, and the nature being the subject of creation itself, had led to the inseparability of physics and religion (i.e. the study of nature could not be undertaken in contravention of any of the tenets of religious belief). If the thought process can be viewed as taking place in some imaginary space, then the effect of such linkages between two schools of thought renders a configuration space, which is a reduced domain by the constraints imposed. The joint history of science and religion has meant that thought related to either has been constrained by wary awareness of the other, initially affecting the progress of science and presumably restraining the evolution of religion in modern times. In the case of science, laws of physics were clearly contingent upon religious beliefs, not the agreement of observers as is required by the principle of relativity.