Nature of the ''Ultimate'' Explanation in Physics

摘要

All science - physics in particular - is concerned with discovering WHY things happen as they do. The WHYS so adduced must clearly be ''deeper'', more universal, more axiomatic, less susceptible to direct experimental testing, than the immediate phenomena to be explained. The WHYS of one generation are often the points of departure for the next, to whom the earlier WHYS can appear subjective, conditioned by ''unscientific'' thinking, even wrong. The glory of science is that, this notwithstanding, correct predictions are often made - at least to the extent of the experimental accuracies achievable and often better. This continuing, ever-sharpening process about the WHYS of physics is discussed in the context of the fundamental unification of physical forces on which the present generation is engaged. (Atomindex citation 13:711831)