The Value of Science

Question

Given the publication date of 1913, what might the intellectual and scientific landscape have been like that would make a series like "SCIENCE AND EDUCATION," with volumes on foundational science, medical research, and university control, particularly relevant or timely?

Synthesized answer

The series "SCIENCE AND EDUCATION," with volumes on foundational science, medical research, and university control, was particularly relevant and timely in 1913 because it addressed a period of significant scientific inquiry and development. The passages indicate a time when there was a "constant multiplication of new efforts towards large and unifying theories" in science [3]. This suggests a landscape where scientists were actively engaged in constructing broad theoretical frameworks. The mention of "theoretical orthodoxy" being no longer clearly definable, yet theoretical construction being "more rife than ever," highlights a dynamic intellectual environment [3].

Furthermore, the series' focus on foundational science, exemplified by the inclusion of Poincaré's works on "Science and Hypothesis," "The Value of Science," and "Science and Method," reflects a need to explore the underlying principles of science itself [1, 2]. The passages also point to a consciousness of the time regarding the "philosophical aspects of science" and a need for "general ideas" in the face of evolving scientific understanding [5]. The inclusion of medical research and university control in the series…

Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.

From the book

Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) SCIENCE AND EDUCATION A SERIES OF VOLUMES FOR THE PROMOTION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS EDITED BY J. MCKEEN CATTELL VOLUME I--THE FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE UNDER THE SAME EDITORSHIP SCIENCE AND EDUCATION. A series of volumes for the promotion of scientific research and educational progress. Volume I. The Foundations…
Passage [1]
yon, James B. Herrick, John M. Dodson, C. R. Bardeen, W. Ophuls, S. J. Meltzer, James Ewing, W. W. Keen, Henry H. Donaldson, Christian A. Herter, and Henry P. Bowditch. Volume III. University Control. By J. MCKEEN CATTELL and other authors. AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE. A Biographical Directory. SCIENCE. A weekly journal devoted to the advancement of science. The official organ of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. A monthly magazine devoted to the diffusion of science. THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. A monthly journal devoted…
Passage [2]
outlines of an ultimate creed about the nature of the knowable universe. Why not 'take the cash and let the credit go'? Why pursue the elusive theoretical 'unification' any further, when what we daily get from our sciences is an increasing wealth of detailed information and of practical guidance? As a fact, however, the known answer of our own age to these very obvious comments is a constant multiplication of new efforts towards large and unifying theories. If theoretical orthodoxy is no longer clearly definable, theoretical construction was never more rife. The history of the…
Passage [46]
ing the principles of science was established forever was characteristic of the followers of the movement in question. Experience, lighted up by reason, seemed to them to have predetermined for all future time certain great theoretical results regarding the real constitution of the 'knowable' cosmos. Whoever doubted this doubted 'the verdict of science.' Some of us well remember how, when Stallo's 'Principles and Theories of Modern Physics' first appeared, this sense of scientific orthodoxy was shocked amongst many of our American readers and teachers of science. I myself can…
Passage [36]
Poincaré, in his book, sketches with the hand of the master, is another illustration of the consciousness of the time. Men have their freedom of thought in these regions; and they feel the need of making constant and constructive use of this freedom. And the men who most feel this need are by no means in the majority of cases professional metaphysicians--or students who, like myself, have to view all these controversies amongst the scientific theoreticians from without as learners. These large theoretical constructions are due, on the contrary, in a great many cases to special…
Passage [47]

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