PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE 77 There are problems raised by Karl R Popper and the answers given by Maurice Cornforth. Should ultimately man go back to God as asserted by Michael Polanyi? What is pure science? Knowledge for its own sake? What about the huge investments in high-energy physics and similar fields? Is it for the private intellectual satisfaction of a handful of physicists? Is it a sin to speak of "planning scientific research^? Is Thomas Alva Edison's dictum that discovery is 1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration (1 per cent individual and 99 per cent collective) correct? What is the socio-philosophical importance of such conceptions as "chance5, "probability5, "vcrifiability5, "deter-minability5 and 'certainty5? Quality and Quantity This is something more mundane and modern. Everybody seems to abhor the idea that the quality of life can be expressed in terms of consumption. Still none has devised any other means of quantification. Is quality of life something which cannot be quantified, not even as much as beauty? Is there any "thing5 that cannot be quantified? Again one is faced with the categories of quality and quantity. What is life in general and "human5 life in particular? Is there a "purpose5 for life? If there is no purpose, is there any direction for life? Is there any fundamental difference between human life and other forms of life? Is the growth and decay of life-forms purely accidental? Can't the human race determine its own future, its "destiny5? Men have necessarily to produce their means of existence. This is today, by and large, a drudgery to relieve which they seek pleasure in arts and sports. Can "work5 become as pleasing as arts and sports? Can this become a qualitative expression of the "quality of life? Development Today one of the consciously—or subconsciously— used measures of development is the relative growth of industry over agriculture in the national economy. Larger specific consumption rates, especially of energy, are aimed at. Bigger industrial complexes and urban concentration are the rules of the day. Is this the only path of development? How basic is the difference between agriculture and industry? Problems crop up on the distributed nature of solar energy utilization in agriculture, the concentrated energy utilization in industry, the importance of time element in agriculture and the impersonal nature of industry. How can the gap between industry and agriculture be bridged? These are a few of the problems of philosophy and science which we want to throw open to debate. M P PARAMESWARAN