A reflection during organic mechanisms lecture:
Language is evidence that we do most of our understanding through metaphors
We keep talking about how an atom is "attached" to the neighboring carbon. But "attaching" is a contextually macroscopic concept. We attach pieces of cloth to each other, we attach vehicles to tow trucks. We use this term metaphorically to understand molecular phenomena. The same goes for all of science*, and all human understanding. Metaphors.
*Science hinges on these metaphors for explanatory understanding, but is very subtle about it. It claims to be in the business of discovering robust mathematical laws that describe nature, and the explanatory understanding is peripheral. But if this is true, science should not claim to understand nature, as it does so purely through metaphors.
Language is evidence that we do most of our understanding through metaphors
We keep talking about how an atom is "attached" to the neighboring carbon. But "attaching" is a contextually macroscopic concept. We attach pieces of cloth to each other, we attach vehicles to tow trucks. We use this term metaphorically to understand molecular phenomena. The same goes for all of science*, and all human understanding. Metaphors.
*Science hinges on these metaphors for explanatory understanding, but is very subtle about it. It claims to be in the business of discovering robust mathematical laws that describe nature, and the explanatory understanding is peripheral. But if this is true, science should not claim to understand nature, as it does so purely through metaphors.
