II The Views of Bertrand Russell

Later he adds: Unfortunately, theoretical physics no longer speaks with that splendid dogmatic clarity that it enjoyed in the seventeenth century. Newton worked with four fundamental concepts: space, time, matter and force. All four have been swept into limbo by modern physicists. Space and time, for Newton, were solid, independent things. They have been replaced by space-time, which is not substantial but only a system of relations. Matter has had to be replaced by series of events. Force, which was the first of the Newtonian concepts to be abandoned, has been replaced by energy; and energy turns out to be indistinguishable from the pale ghost, which is all that remains of matter. Cause, which was the philosophical form of what physicists called force, has also become decrepit. 1 will not admit that it is dead, but it has nothing like the vigour of its earlier days.9 After life-long study and research he arrived at the conclusion that ‘non-demonstrable inference is also valid’ (p. 204). Without this the whole system of science and day-to-day human life would be paralyzed. According to Russell, science covers both the real world and the world as it is believed to be. The more science advances, the greater the role of what is held to be credible. Because, in science there are some things known as observed facts, and everything beyond them is the scientific abstraction, which is inferred on the basis of observation. ‘The Philosopher is thus compelled to investigate the relation between observed facts and scientific abstractions. Universal skepticism cannot be refuted, but also cannot be accepted.’10 As for what has been accomplished by philosophical speculation, he says that his reason for accepting ‘the broad truth of science as things which the philosopher should take as data’ is that even though ‘their truth is not quite certain, it has a higher degree of probability than anything likely to be achieved in philosophical speculation.’11 Another passage from the same book completes the picture of