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Stability and Change in Nature and Science Harold I. Brown1 

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract Change is endemic in nature yet scientists seek stability amidst change. When proposals fail scientists shift their focus and look for stability elsewhere. Scholars who study the development of science also seek stability in the scientific process. Here I explore the interaction between stability and change in nature as we understand it through the sciences (Part I) and in the practice of scientific research (Part II). The concluding part argues that the search for stability meets a human intellectual need but this is compatible with our finding what is actually there. Cases in which a previously accepted part of science is rejected or revised in response to contrary data indicates that we do not predetermine outcomes of observations and experiments. Still, the belief that there are loci of stability in nature is a working hypothesis. While it has been fruitful, only future scientific developments can determine if this will continue to hold. Keywords  Scientific change · Scientific research · Data · Theories · Methodology

1 Introduction Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance. T. S. Eliot, Burnt Norton Change is endemic in nature yet in studying nature scientists seek stability at the heart of change. Attempts to locate stability are as fallible as any other part of science; when specific proposals fail scientists typically shift their focus and look for stability elsewhere. Scholars who study the process of scientific research also seek stability in such scientific practices as the collection of evidence, and the formulation, evaluation, and replacement of theories—practices that also change as science develops. My aim here is to explore the interaction between stability and change first in nature as we understand it through the sciences and then in the practice of scientific research.1 Put differently, I will explore this theme first in the product of our scientific activities and then in the process. I want to stress two clarifications at the outset. First, seeking common features amidst diversity is a related topic. Newton’s laws, for example, supplemented with different * Harold I. Brown [email protected] 1



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initial and boundary conditions, allow us to calculate the orbits of both planets and comets. This is an important subject but a different subject from the one I am discussing here. Second, I will mainly take my examples from physics and astronomy. This is, of course, not all of science. Much work in biology, for example, consists of describing and classifying the varieties of life on this planet, although our theme does arise in areas of biology such as the study of natural selection and heredity. I will include examples outside of physics on occasion.

2 Nature Consider Galileo’s study of the behavior of falling bodies. Obviously, any moving body is changing its