Natural sciences

Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches the natural sciences mainly to mark their limits. In his view, a science requires its own object, universal and necessary laws, and the possibility of measurement. He sees measurement as a human decree and takes the model y = f(x) as the form of determinism1. Extending this model to the subject is scientistic imperialism: it abolishes freedom and with it the question "what ought I to do?". The subject, which is dialectical, therefore lies beyond the natural sciences. He contrasts the formalized discourse of the hard sciences with natural language. For him, "the swindle" begins when one moves from one to the other without measurable quantities. He warns against the ideological use of quantum mechanics, which does not abolish causality2. Following Kant, he distinguishes legislation by nature from legislation by freedom, which compete for one and the same territory, like a forest cleared to make a field3. He accepts mechanistic materialism, but only within the field of the natural sciences. He sets natural matter, governed by cause and effect, against historical matter, governed by sign and meaning2. Finally, he notes the link between orbital resonance and Pythagorean ratios4.

1. 1#5.3 bis Questions (Facebook Live)13 Jan 2019
2. 2#9.14 How can sciences of history be real?5 Feb 2021
3. 3Nature vs. freedom?8 Oct 2026
4. 4#7 Answers to questions (continued)3 Dec 2020

Introduction produced automatically from the 5 sessions on this theme, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the sessions.