Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 22:04:34 +0000
From: Marc Afifi <mafifi@redshift.com>
To: Pinhole Listserv <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>
Subject: Re: Inverse Squares
I'm curious. How do the mathematical models of spheres, triangles and
areas, answer the question why? Isn't the real answer because that's the
way it is. Physics cannot answer the question why, only how things work
is explained.
Perhaps I'm being too simplistic, but it seems that none of the prior
answers to "why?" really answers the question. Similar questions arise
frequently in my classes (e.g. why does the universe prefer lower
potential energy? why does the universe prefer higher entropy? why does
gravity pull downward? why is the speed of light 3x10^8m/s? etc.) While
mathematical models may help to explain the observed behavior and add
credibility to laws and theories, they do little to answer the much
deeper question why. My two-year-old understands the question much
better than I do. She never seems to tire of asking it, but I soon run
out of answers and eventually just say, because that's the way it is. I
can only hope that this response does not cause her to think of me as
anti-intellectual.
Perhaps the question is better left to the philosophers?
I am reminded of a story (I cannot vouch for its veracity) about a
philosophy class in which the final exam question was: Why?
While many students wrote long answers to the meaning of life, the
belief in God, the reasons for moral behavior, the death penalty, etc,
the only student to receive an A was the student who wrote: Why not?
Humbly submitted.