☆ 鼓勵天才
科學既重視「累積」智慧，亦欣賞天才的智慧。
所以從事科學的人，
除了要有能力領悟和欣賞巨人天馬行空的
創意思維 creative imagination 之外，
亦要具備獨立思考的能力。
然而在人類的其他事務之上，我們就未必會有這樣的心態。
Creative ideas are both novel and valuable. But
they are often rejected when the creative innovator
stands up to vested interests and defies the crowd.
The crowd does not maliciously or willfully reject
creative notions. Rather, it does not realize, and
often does not want to realize, that the proposed
idea represents a valid and advanced way of thinking.
Society often perceives opposition to the status quo
as annoying, offensive, and reason enough to ignore
innovative ideas.
( Robert J. Sternberg,
Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesized,
Cambridge University Press, 2003, p.109 )
☆ 隨時從根源開始再去思考。
I submit that it is only by trial and error,
by insistent scrutiny and by readiness
to re-examine presently accredited conclusions
that we have risen, so far as we have risen,
from our brutish ancestors;
and I believe that in our loyalty to these habits
lies our only chance not merely of progress
but even of survival.
( Judge Learned Hand )
科學界中的巨人隨時都能夠從根源開始再去思考，
令科學界出現不少重大的進步。
最初哲學家只是用「躍進」leaps 來描繪這種科學的進展：
Science advances by leaps;
and the impulse for each leap is either
some new observational resource, or
some novel way of reasoning about the observations.
Such novel way of reasoning might, perhaps,
be considered as a new observational means,
since it draws attention to relations between facts
which would previously have been passed by unperceived.
( Charles S. Pierce )
☆ 建設信仰
追求智慧的人窮畢生之力去建設屬於個人的信仰，
不斷地批判、修訂、破壞、甚至破舊立新，由根源開始重建信仰，
這個過程就是科學精神的表現，就是一個開放心靈的工作。
Wisdom requires an open-minded attitude,
and a scientific construction of personal faith,
which is the guardian of our choices in
vicissitudes, crossroads and critical situations.
Faith provides us with sound judgements and
therefore confidence in our actions and reactions.
Faith is self-corrective because it is always under
modification, construction and reconstruction,
becoming better and better and finally sustainable.
( Jason Ling )
問題是世間上一流的人物罕見，科學界也不例外，
三、四流的科學家當然具備一切人性的缺失。
Scientific inquiry is prone to the eternal rules
of human social life:
deference to the charismatic,
herding toward majority opinion,
punishment for deviance, and
intense intense discomfort with admitting to error.
( Ian Leslie )
How ‘Settled Science’ Helped Create
A Massive Public Health Crisis
http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/how-settled-science-caused-a-massive-public-health-crisis/
直到 Thomas Kuhn 才用上「科學革命」 scientific revolutions
這個誇張一些的詞彙。
從思維方面，從哲學方面，尤其是天文學的角度來看，
用「革命」來描述科學的歷史發展狀況，無疑是對的，
但從地球上生活的角度來看，
與其說科學中有很多「革命」revolutions，
不如說科學中有很多「進化」evolutions。
在地球上，我們依然是應用牛頓力學。