In Carlo Rovelli's, Reality is Not What it Seems [0], he speaks of this final point in its short, final chapter.
He starts by using an example from Plato's, Phaedo, where Plato acknowledges the limits of the knowledge of his time – in relation to Socrates being unsure about his "belief" in the Earth being a sphere.
Rovelli says:
"This acute awareness of our ignorance is the heart of scientific thinking. It is thanks to this awareness of the limits of our knowledge that we have learned so much. We are not certain of all which we suspect, just as Socrates was not sure of the spherical nature of the Earth. We are exploring at the borders of our knowledge."
As was Newton, Maxwell, Einstein, amongst others.
Rovelli goes on:
"Science is not reliable because it provides certainty. It is reliable because it provides us with the best answers we have at present. ... They are the best we have because we don’t consider them to be definitive, but see them as open to improvement. It’s the awareness of our ignorance that gives science its reliability."
Science is never settled. Rovelli's book is about Loop Quantum Gravity; as unsettled a field of research in science _today_.
He starts by using an example from Plato's, Phaedo, where Plato acknowledges the limits of the knowledge of his time – in relation to Socrates being unsure about his "belief" in the Earth being a sphere.
Rovelli says:
"This acute awareness of our ignorance is the heart of scientific thinking. It is thanks to this awareness of the limits of our knowledge that we have learned so much. We are not certain of all which we suspect, just as Socrates was not sure of the spherical nature of the Earth. We are exploring at the borders of our knowledge."
As was Newton, Maxwell, Einstein, amongst others.
Rovelli goes on:
"Science is not reliable because it provides certainty. It is reliable because it provides us with the best answers we have at present. ... They are the best we have because we don’t consider them to be definitive, but see them as open to improvement. It’s the awareness of our ignorance that gives science its reliability."
Science is never settled. Rovelli's book is about Loop Quantum Gravity; as unsettled a field of research in science _today_.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29767627-reality-is-not-...