“The belief in an external world independent of the perceiving subject is the basis of all natural science. Since, however, sense perception only gives information of this external world or of ‘physical reality’ indirectly, we can only grasp the latter by speculative means. It follows from this that our notions of physical reality can never be final. We must always be ready to change these notions - that is to say, the axiomatic basis of physics - in order to do justice to perceived facts in the most perfect way.”
The discussion of science is incomplete without first realizing its basis. As explained by Einstein, the nature of science - though some people might call it a dilemma or shortcoming - is an explanation of our perceptible world. Scientists must live and breathe the parameters of perception while pushing the boundaries of knowledge and their foundations are universal. While some may discuss the boundaries of consciousness, perception, and comprehension, physical scientists seek solutions to physical problems based on human perception and all instrumentation created thereof. Through our use of available tools, it seems to me that scientific claims should all have a footnote: "based on all previous science and math". Essentially, science is extremely careful to never overstep itself, only developing theories based on carefully chosen laws, newly gathered evidence and the (known) influence of human perception. Whether this should be referred to as the “weakness” or “limitation” of science is a state of mind that (in my opinion, of course) should be avoided by anyone wishing to unlock the unknown. Human perception is the tool of science in the same way a ruler is used to measure distance or a detector in a particle accelerator can observe the trajectory of a proton; these tools have their “limitations” but instead of discerning what they can’t do, scientific explorers utilize their tools in new and creative ways in their quest for solutions. Scientific reasoning can be conducted as long as we understand the possible purposes and uses of our perceptions. I leave it to you (or perhaps an entire other post) to consider that the things human perception cannot access lead to human artistic expression.
