6.05.2009

Galaxies and G.K. Chesteron

In The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton wrote:
Modern people...seem to forget, for instance, that a man is not even certain of the Solar System as he is certain of the South Downs. The Solar System is a deduction, and doubtless a true deduction; but the point is that it is a very vast and far-reaching deduction and therefore he forgets that it is a deduction at all and treats it as a first principle. He might discover that the whole calculation is a miscalculation; and the sun and stars and street-lamps would look exactly the same.
Recently, a rather enormous miscalculation was discovered. Harvard researchers found that our galaxy is 50% more massive than previously thought.

...As if we didn't have enough reasons to recognize Chesterton's genius already.

0 comments: