[FOM] Re: Freeman Dyson on Inexhaustibility

[praatika@mappi.helsinki.fi]

Lainaus Martin Davis <martin at eipye.com>:

> Don Fallis wrote about Dyson invoking G\"odel's incompleteness theorem to 
> proclaim "the inexhaustibility of physics".  It should be noted that
> Dyson  uses this argument to deny the possibility of a "theory of
> everything", that is, a physical theory that would encompass all physical 
> phenomena.

Interestingly, similar claims have been apparently made by Popper (a 
distiguished philosopher of science), in "Scientific reduction and the 
essential incompleteness of all science", in F. Ayla and T. Dobzhansky 
(ed.) Studies in the Philosophy of Biology, MacMillan, London, 1974, 259-84.

He has been critisized by Joseph Wayne Smith, "Popper, Godel's theorem and 
the essential incompleteness of all science", Indian Philosophical 
Quarterly. AP 83; 10: 309-310.

Unfortunately, I can't access either paper - I've just seen the abstract of 
the latter. 

Does anyone know either of these papers? At least I would be interested in 
hearing about their content.

Best

Panu


Panu Raatikainen

PhD., Docent in Theoretical Philosophy
Fellow, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
University of Helsinki
 
Address: 
Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
P.O. Box 4
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland

E-mail: panu.raatikainen at helsinki.fi
 
http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/eng/Raatikainen/raatikainen.htm