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初学相对论时,正好见过彭加勒(Poincare)的小书《科学与假设》,那会儿能一口气把它读完,像八戒吃了人生果还不过瘾——有些观点一直影响着我,原来就是从彭老那儿听说的。例如,科学只有观察是不够的,科学需要事实,但事实的堆积绝不是科学。
The man of science must work with method. Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house. Most important of all, the man of science must exhibit foresight. (第九章,Hypothesis in Physics)
第一句,还有的英译本是“the scientist must set in order”,即科学家要会“整理”,发现“有序”。最后一句更重要,科学家必须有远见,科学理论必须能预言。这个理所当然的观点,似乎并没有普及开来,我们很多同学还没有这样的自觉;他们认为,事实多了,自然会出现“规律”,仿佛砖块多了,房子就自然get into order了。
这会儿又看到这个小书,看到彭老接着举了Carlyle的例子,以前没有留意的:
Carlyle has written somewhere something after this fashion. "Nothing but facts are of importance. John Lackland passed by here. Here is something that is admirable. Here is a reality for which I would give all the theories in the world." Carlyle was a compatriot of Bacon, and, like him, he wished to proclaim his worship of the God of Things as they are.
John Lackland就是英国的约翰王(1199年即位),他几乎把英格兰在欧洲大陆的土地都丢了,所以赢得Lackland的绰号(法文名Jean Sans Terre,有个中译本没认出他来,直译为让桑泰尔)。在这里,彭老并不是直接引用卡莱尔的话,而是说老卡说过诸如此类的话(after this fashion,即like this)——内容大概来自他的Past and Future,但原文没有。这儿的意思大概说,老卡只关心事实,“崇拜”(他写过著名的《英雄与英雄崇拜》)事物本来面目(as they are)。
但是,老卡的老乡培根就不会那么说了:
But Bacon would not have said that. That is the language of the historian. The physicist would most likely have said: "John Lackland passed by here. It is all the same to me, for he will not pass this way again."
物理学家不关心那些“事实”,他们会说:王爷来过,但与我无关,因为他不会再来了。
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