Scientific research sooner or later, but inevitably, encounters something ultimately given that it cannot trace back to something else of which it would appear as the regular or necessary derivative. Scientific progress consists in pushing further back this ultimately given.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Mises describes scientific progress as pushing back the boundary of what is ultimately given and cannot be traced to something else.
- In plain terms
- Science keeps going back to find deeper causes for things.
- What can you take from it?
- Scientific progress lies in explaining more than previously understood.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What is ultimately given?
- Can all things be traced?
Another view
Not all sciences trace causes linearly.
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