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The Limits of Science

by Peter Medawar (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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"Science," writes Sir Peter Medawar, "is incomparably the most successful enterprise human beings have ever engaged upon." In this brief, brilliant book the Nobel laureate explores the nature and limitations of scientific pursuit. The three essays included touch on some of the largest questions known to man: Can science determine the existence of God? Is there one "scientific method" by which all the secrets of the universe can be discovered?
In "An Essay on Scians" (an early spelling of "science"), Medawar examines the process of scientific inquiry. Debunking the common belief that science is inductively structured, he claims that great leaps of imagination are required to determine the laws of nature and likens the process of scientific hypothesis to the creative acts of poets and artists. The question posed in "Can Scientific Discovery Be Premeditated?" is answered with a firm no. Sir Peter stresses the role of luck in the history of science and cites as examples of un-premeditated discoveries those of X-rays, HLA polymorphism, and the nature of the disease myasthenia gravis. In the title essay, Medawar distinguishes between "transcendent" questions, which are better left to religion, literature, and metaphysics, and questions about the organization and structure of the material universe. With regard to the latter, he concludes, there are no limits to the possibilities of scientific achievement. "This is science's greatest glory," writes Medawar, "for it entails that everything which is possible in principle can be done if the intention to do it is sufficiently resolute and long sustained."
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  1. ISBN-10
    0195052129
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0195052121
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    January 14, 1988
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    5.06 x 0.3 x 7.69 inches
  7. Print length
    128 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About the Author:
Sir Peter Medawar, who won the Nobel Prize with Sir Macfarlane Burnet in 1960 for demonstrating the possibility of transplanting tissues between genetically different organisms, is the author of Pluto's Republic, Memoirs of a Thinking Radish, and numerous other books.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (January 14, 1988)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195052129
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195052121
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.06 x 0.3 x 7.69 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

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4.4 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • PhilN
    5.0 out of 5 stars What is the nature of Science?
    Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    In this short, serious, but accessible book on 'high science' Nobel laureate Sir Peter Medawar addresses the big questions of mankind and what Science can and cannot do to deal with them.
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  • Rob Harrell
    5.0 out of 5 stars Scientism abashed.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2021
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    This work should be read today in light of all the pop scientist forced upon us.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Viktor Blasjo
    4.0 out of 5 stars Clever quips
    Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2007
    Although it begins "This is a serious book", this is not a serious book. Its first two essays do not even pretend to be serious but are instead concerned with such things as quipping about "the incredulous derision" with which a modern-day grant-giving body would have greeted "a research proposal 'to discover a means of making human flesh transparent'" in 1900 (p. 46), and quoting a 17th century Shadwell play on the tension between pure and applied science: "When the curtain goes up, Sir Nicholas Gimcrack is seen making froglike swimming movements on the table in his workroom. Does he intend to swim in the water? ... Never, sir; I hate the water. I content myself with the speculative part of swimming and care not for the practical." (p. 8). The third and "principal" (p. xii) essay at least has serious claims in it, but its arguments are so utterly underdeveloped that it can hardly be called an essay at all. The main claim is that "there is an intrinsic, built-in limitation upon the growth of scientific understanding" (p. 59), stemming from "the Law of Conservation of Information, which runs as follows: No process of logical reasoning---no mere act of mind or computer-programmable operation---can enlarge the information content of the axioms and premises or observation statements from which it proceeds." (p. 79). Medawar's only proof of this law is to debunk a possible counter-argument: if science could reach inductive conclusions of the type "all swans are white" then the law would be false, for the statement says more than the totality of observations that prompted it. But it is not credible to admit such induction as science (p. 80). For one thing, "Our sense of the fitness of things is offended by the idea that an induction such as 'All swans are white' can be corroborated by the discovery in a trash heap of an old black boot, yet so it is: for if all swans are white, if follows logically that all non-white objects are non-swans. If, then, any black object is discovered which anxious scrutiny shows not to be a swan, then we have confirmed a logical prediction from a hypothesis and given ourselves an extra incentive to believe in it." (p. 15). From Medawar's law it apparently follows, in some manner not further explicated, that science cannot answer "ultimate questions" such as "what is the point of living?" (p. 66), and that to answer such questions from within science is as impossible as "to deduce from the axioms and postulates of Euclid a theorem to do with how to cook an omelet or bake a cake" (p. 82). Medawar further maintains that there are no other limits on the growth of science, which he also purports to prove by equally lightweight arguments. For example, increased specialisation is not a problem because "There were always sciences and there were always arts, and no one man knew them all---no one man ever had the know-how to make glass, brew beer, dress leather, make paper and cast a bell" (p. 71). That Newton did not know how to brew beer is hardly very conclusive proof that pathological specialisation is not detrimental to scientific progress, but that is beside the point: this unserious book proves nothing but is delightful reading all the same.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • NC00073
    2.0 out of 5 stars Great title, but the contents of the book were ...
    Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I didn't get much out of this book. Great title, but the contents of the book were woefully anemic. More like a rant from the author. Just my opinion.
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  • Christine Schnittka
    4.0 out of 5 stars Brief description of The Limits of Science
    Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2006
    In this small book of essays, Nobel laureate, Sir Peter Medawar defines what science is and what it is not. Using a familiar and engaging voice, he addresses some of the big questions about science, revealing its true nature to the learned scientist and the novice alike.
    12 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • RJ
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good quality
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Old good - it is a second hand book
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  • S. Meadows
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for all involved in science
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    If you choose to buy this, as I recommend you do, you'll soon see that it's a tiny book. It is comprised of 3 essays and in totality it is less than 100 pages. The first is entitled "An essay on scians" where the author has used an alternative, archaic, spelling of `science' to make his point. It is a very general essay on the nature of science. There is some detail in there but it is only there as a demonstration rather than educate the reader in any particular point. In a short essay he manages to cover issues of sociology, politics, history and the public perception of science.

    I would recommend this to anyone considering taking an undergraduate degree in any science. It is a real gem; concise, clear, passionate and well thought-through.

    The second essay has as its title a very straightforward question: "Can scientific discovery be premeditated?" This is an even shorter essay, at just 8 pages. Medawar uses 3 examples to demonstrate his argument that the answer to the question is "no." His main target seems to be the industrialisation of science in modern academia where research is often only funded if an application of the science is foreseen. This goes very much against the spirit of science that prevailed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

    His final essay is the culmination of these, where the main question posed is that of whether or not there are questions that science cannot answer. Specifically he has in mind "childlike elementary questions having to do with first and last things - questions such as "How did everything begin?" "What are we here for?" "What is the point of living?""

    He rejects the school of positivism as put forth by AJ Ayer and the Vienna Circle, by accepting that such questions do make sense, but recognises that answers to these may be beyond the means answerable my scientific methodologies.

    Probably the most interesting part of the essay which I had not previously considered was his consideration of `The Law of Conservation of Information' which is stated thus: "No process of logical reasoning - no mere act of mind or computer-programmable operation - can enlarge the information content of the axioms and premises or observation statements from which it proceeds."

    He finishes the essay with a consideration of `The Question of the Existence of God' - a subject that tends to divide opinions like few others. I shan't tell you what his conclusion is on this. I would heartily recommend that you read it for yourself.
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    S. Meadows
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for all involved in science
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2012
    If you choose to buy this, as I recommend you do, you'll soon see that it's a tiny book. It is comprised of 3 essays and in totality it is less than 100 pages. The first is entitled "An essay on scians" where the author has used an alternative, archaic, spelling of `science' to make his point. It is a very general essay on the nature of science. There is some detail in there but it is only there as a demonstration rather than educate the reader in any particular point. In a short essay he manages to cover issues of sociology, politics, history and the public perception of science.

    I would recommend this to anyone considering taking an undergraduate degree in any science. It is a real gem; concise, clear, passionate and well thought-through.

    The second essay has as its title a very straightforward question: "Can scientific discovery be premeditated?" This is an even shorter essay, at just 8 pages. Medawar uses 3 examples to demonstrate his argument that the answer to the question is "no." His main target seems to be the industrialisation of science in modern academia where research is often only funded if an application of the science is foreseen. This goes very much against the spirit of science that prevailed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

    His final essay is the culmination of these, where the main question posed is that of whether or not there are questions that science cannot answer. Specifically he has in mind "childlike elementary questions having to do with first and last things - questions such as "How did everything begin?" "What are we here for?" "What is the point of living?""

    He rejects the school of positivism as put forth by AJ Ayer and the Vienna Circle, by accepting that such questions do make sense, but recognises that answers to these may be beyond the means answerable my scientific methodologies.

    Probably the most interesting part of the essay which I had not previously considered was his consideration of `The Law of Conservation of Information' which is stated thus: "No process of logical reasoning - no mere act of mind or computer-programmable operation - can enlarge the information content of the axioms and premises or observation statements from which it proceeds."

    He finishes the essay with a consideration of `The Question of the Existence of God' - a subject that tends to divide opinions like few others. I shan't tell you what his conclusion is on this. I would heartily recommend that you read it for yourself.
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