The Metaphysical Roots of Science

Abstract

Paul’s excursion into the history of ideas mentioned earlier did not come to an end with the 17th century. After going through the humanities line in a secondary school he was fluent in both Latin and Greek and this gave him the competence rare for a physicist for unraveling the development of the ideas and concepts of natural science. The history of the concepts of space, time and matter was his particular point of interest. Since he, on the other hand, knew the literature concerning relativity theory and quantum theory to a greater extent than perhaps anyone else, Pauli had truly exceptional qualifications for forming a dependable picture of the development and contemporary situation of natural science.