Magic and Science (1956)

From the October 1956 issue of the Socialist Standard

However, so far as the schemes for controlling events by magic were concerned, men have learned from bitter experience that nature does not work in that way.

Things do not happen in the world as if at the bidding of capricious sprites, but in an orderly manner as if in deference to fixed laws which have to be obeyed.

Night follows day, the seasons pass in due succession from seedtime to harvest, the events of human and animal life form a regular routine. The discovery of this Essential orderliness of nature marks the beginning of what we call science. Once men have reached the scientific stage of development, they realise that success in living does not depend upon coaxing or forcing nature to do what we want.

It depends upon understanding nature's laws, and in making use of them to serve human purposes. That is the principle underlying all the great inventions—steamships, airplanes, radio and so forth, which loom so large in the world today.” (The World of Copernicus, by Angus Armitage, C.Sc. Mentor Book.)